Fractured
by Cardboard Tube Knight
Summary: Harry must stop something he never imagined existed: Demons. As the universe fractures there's an upside, a strengthening relationship with his friends and a chance at the family he never had. Strangest of all is his benefactor in this fight...
1. Prologue: Slouching Toward Bethlehem

**Prologue: Slouching Toward Bethlehem**

* * *

The universe was fractured.

Sure, the hairline crack that rippled through creation weren't enough for anyone to _notice_. But they had an effect on people.

And these were merely the splintered depressions in the fabric of everything, at the heart of it there was a cause—someone or _something_ was burrowing its way further toward the surface. Slouching nearer and nearer toward the world and cackling with maniacal laughter—if it did indeed laugh.

In the three years since the Second Wizarding War this change in order had still carried a believable sense of _normalcy. _With Voldemort dead and the world safe for the foreseeable future, this was okay. Even then the world had exploded into a rash of wars and fears of terrorism and talk of plagues. But this is considered _normal._

What does normal really mean?

Desensitization had made **this** view of normalcy acceptable. Without the constant threat of death and paranoia over whom to trust, it was easy to accept the world as it was and not as it should be.

Still, troubles swelled and grew, especially in the Muggle realm. The creeping cracks barely extended into the magical world and even if they had been more prevalent, no one would have sensed them.

As is usually the case with the naïve, the Ministry of England and the entire Magical population of the world continued its policy of isolationism, content with the fact that their demons had been exercised and not knowing that a universal evil edged its way into the world.

* * *

**Author's Note: What lies ahead isn't going to be *exactly* canon. Yes, this takes place after the books, but more than likely it will ignore the epilogue and much of what was done there. **


	2. Chapter One: A Sharp Hint of Old Fears

**Chapter One: A Sharp Hint of Old Fears  
**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**Before I begin, I would like to say I know that the Ottomans never conquered Afghanistan. Please refrain from messaging me over this small fact, it's not a mistake it's just meant to say that the Turkish governing body of magic controls that huge area. This is probably much more polished than my other works because I sat on it for a while and looked over it a few times. Still, if you see any mistakes feel free to let me know. I would also like to thank my beta reader WereRanga for her help with this chapter and the next one.**_

* * *

Harry didn't think that he'd ever seen a brighter, hotter day. He would have sworn that the sun was closer here. It burned with such intensity that the sky was white and cloudless and the light reflected up off the rolling sand dunes. Ahead of him, through the light, he could barely see Ron riding atop one of the magical carpets loaned to them by the _Ottoman Organization of the Occult_.

Rugs weren't as sleek as brooms, but Harry could see the appeal. The same couldn't be said for Ron.

He kept his eyes looked ahead of him, into the glaring white sky. Harry was having trouble making out Ron and that must have been why they're suspects ran this way. Any curses or hexes they threw would be marred by the sun's light. Harry squinted toward the western horizon for a sign of anyone else.

"Didn't Akbar say that the Muggles were fighting a war out here…in this Desert?" Ron hollered back to Harry, his red hair appeared to be on fire with the sun providing backlight. The concern in his voice was evident.

"I hardly think they'd be looking men on carpet-back, Ron," Harry replied smirking and shielding his eyes.

Ron dropped his arms to his sides, his wand still clutched tight. "I'm just not sure I want to get hit by one of those stupid Muggle _bonds_ when they fall out of their _hello-planes _or whatever…" he called back indignantly.

A great smile took over Harry's face as he held back his laughter. "Mate, we've got to talk to Hermione about your schooling—you should have never opted to pass up on that seventh year," Harry said.

Hot, dry wind swept past them carrying bits of sand in it. They'd been at this too long, perhaps Kingsley Shacklebolt had sent the wrong men. Harry always thought that because of the War, there was too much trust put in him by the new Minster of Magic. Chasing this lead had taken them to France, where they'd employed the help of Fleur Weasley. Then they'd been in Italy for a week but that had only taken them to Romania and then they found their way to Afghanistan.

There was a glimmer of something against the alabaster backdrop of the sky, a wisp of moving light that swirled and shimmered light green. Ron called out just as Harry realized what it was. "Harry—down!" he yelled.

A green jet of light zipped past Harry as he crouched against his rug, a killing curse. Harry raised his wand to fire a hex back. "Ease up, Ron! We can't see them like this…"

Ron squatted against the front of his rug, trying to slow himself. It wasn't as abrupt as he would have liked, Harry could tell. "Bugger this, not sure how the _O.O.O._ puts up with it!" Ron hissed. He rocked to one side as another curse zipped between them. "That settles it, Amir and Malzahar are definitely up there," he added.

"Ah, Ron—you think?" asked Harry. An intense silence fell over the skies, Harry studied the horizon for signs of more curses and Ron leveled out with him, keeping a few feet between them. Now he could hear the dark tendrils of hair brushing lightly against his forehead. The wind ripped around his body and caused his clothes to flap lightly.

"They're afraid," Harry said finally. "They're playing it safe and using these tricks because they don't want an outright fight."

"Course they don't," Ron started. "You're the only person to survive one killing curse, let alone multiple ones…I wouldn't want to fight you either."

Harry didn't respond directly to him, he felt as if some kind of trance. "Cowardice—dark wizards never seem to want a fair fight," he said slowly.

"They can't get much more an advantage than this," Ron said just as a pair of cobalt waves of energy rained down from above them. "I guess I spoke too soon, up!"

The pair must have circled around and made a steep climb to drop in from above Harry and Ron using the sun as cover. Amir and Malzahar straight down on top of them, their long black hair fanned out around them as the air whipped around them. They continued to rain curses down as the gripped their rungs tight and clung to them.

"They're going for the easy kill!" Harry shouted

A curse exploded into the ground below them with a force so great that the sand and debris kicked up unseated Harry from his carpet. He caught onto the edge of the rug with his wand hand and held both tight.

"Harry!"

"Back off, Ron!"

"When I'm under your rug, you have to let go!"

Their assailants circled back to make a second pass and a killing curse skirted past Harry's let so closely that he could feel it pushing the air out from in front of it. Its light felt cold, like a Dementor.

"Not yet!"

"Come on Harry!"

A set of rapid fire spells peppered the sand around them and then there was a swoosh of air as the pair passed them again and almost knocked Ron off balance with another quick curse.

"I got this Ron, you just cover me!"

There was a big _thud_ as a purple ball of energy pounded into a big dune ahead of them. The sands rumbled and broke away as a huge beast, it almost looked to be a dog leaped forth from the dune and stretched its gaping maw toward Harry and Ron. It was big enough to swallow them both.

Harry was still unarmed, he slung his other elbow over the carpet and attempted to free his wand hand. But Ron reacted quicker, raising his wand toward the transfigurations mouth and shouting his incantation. "_Aguamenti_!" a huge burst of water shot from his wand drenching the sand thing into a struggling mud creature.

With wand in hand, Harry cast a levitation charm and flipped his rug so that he was right side up on it. He rose to his feet in time for the next set of small spells. He blocked two and sent one of his own back, but it missed.

Ron swung his wand sharply as he spotted Amir turning around out ahead of them. Their rugs were faster, but Ron thought he had the timing. "Let's see how they do without the flying floor coverings! _Reducto__!_" he shouted. A blue burst of light left his wand, but he must have been _slightly_ off target.

The world seemed to slow down as Harry turned to look at Ron's spellwork. Amir reached the apex of his arc and just as he turned the Reductor curse caught up to him, he wrenched his head around to see it the wave of energy racing up…

…_and then it collided with his face and there was resounding explosion of light_.

"Holy shit!" Ron gasped.

Harry gritted his teeth in shock and recoiled back, almost forgetting where he was. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he turned to Ron with his arms thrown out to the side.

Amir's headless corpse stumbled off the carpet and plummeted into the sand below, the rug followed its rider's motion. A blood curdling scream broke the air and Harry turned to see Malzahar grasping the sides of his head in crazed grief. The noises that followed were crazed, half sobs and part something else—something angry. In the moment of conflict that followed, Malzahar turned abruptly to go for Amir. His screams became more intelligible. "My brother!" he cried hysterically.

Harry wasted no time when he saw his opening. With Malzahar going at a snail's pace past him, he Apparated onto the back of the criminal's carpet. The soft pop when he reappeared must have given him away because Malzahar spun to attack and Harry deflected the blow with his wand and caught him by the wrist with the other.

"You can't just Apparate onto a moving rug!" Ron screamed. Harry ignored him.

Hooking his arm around under Harry's, Malzahar grappled his wrist too. The pair of them were locked there, faces pressed close together as horrid rage tore over Malzahar's features. "My brother—you filthy bastards…" he trailed off. "I'll kill you—I'll kill the whole lot of you!" his words were hinged with anger and grief.

Between them, their wands sparked and shimmered as they rubbed together between them, repelled by the minor curses they were maintaining. Harry couldn't let his down because he would just be hit by Malzahar's retaliation. They were tussling back and forth and then their legs were hooked around one another, either of them could topple off of this rug and down into the sand.

Ron was trailing them, hollering over the rush of wind around them. "This is stupid, Harry, you're too close!"

With a rapid movement of his head, Harry scanned the sky for his carpet. It had fallen from the sky like it was supposed to without a rider. "Ron, hang on!" Harry swept his foot from around Malzahar's, forced both their wands down together and head-butted him so that he stumbled back just a enough.

_CRACK!_

Harry Apparated onto the back of Ron's rug and before Malzahar could regain his composure, he raised his wand. "_Rictusempra!_" Harry cried. It was the first spell that popped into his mind.

Malzahar curled his hands around his midriff, grasping at his sides and burst into a fit of laughter. The motion caused him to seize up and bucked him off of his carpet and he landed legs first, with a thunderous _crunch_ in the sand.

"A bloody tickling charm?" asked Ron.

Harry glared at him. "You're one to talk, at least mine's still got his head!" he brought his rug down close to where Malzahar had fallen. "I think he broke his legs," Harry said nonchalantly.

"Gonna hurt for him when we Apparate him back," Ron said.

Harry nodded.

"Should we go get the other one?" asked Ron pointing back to where Amir's headless form had fallen.

"_We_ nothing, you're going back there get _Ichabod Crane_ up out of the sand, I'm taking this one," Harry said tugging Malzahar upright and restraining him with a spell. With a flick of his wand he stopped the tickling curse, Malzahar was still shouting and crying. "I want to hear you explain to them how Amir lost his head…"

"I didn't mean—I was aiming for the rug!"

"Kind of like how you didn't mean to _Confundus Charm_ that man in front of the double-decker bus?" Harry said.

"You sure know how to make a friend feel well."

Harry left the perpetrator on the ground and headed back toward the dune. "Let's go get yours," he said softly.

Malzahar choked at the air, coughing futility. "It won't help you—I won't help you!" he screamed. Ron paused and jerked his head to look back over his shoulder.

"Just leave him, Ron."

"It doesn't matter, just kill me like you murdered my brother—it won't stop it! The job is done," he screamed.

Ron turned away.

Then Malzahar cackled. "While you're here, who's guarding the little Mud-Blood bitch and the Quidditch whore?"

Harry could hear the snap of Ron's muscles as his friend bounded over the sand and slammed Malzahar back to the ground, holding him at the throat. "What did you say?" Ron asked. He tugged Malzahar up, his arms tightening as he held prisoner close to his face. "What did you do to them! Tell me!" he demanded, his face reddening.

"It doesn't matter—that's all you'll get from me, ever," Malzahar said. There was something final in his voice, tears still ran down his cheeks and there was sand clinging to the small wet trail where they had run.

"Ron, check his mouth," Harry said.

With his hands gripped at the collar of Malzahar's shirt he demanded. "What do you know? This isn't going to be it, if anything happens to Hermione or my sister there won't be a corner of the universe you can hide from me in, you hear me!"

Malzahar's chuckling became more pronounced.

"Just wait till we get back to Istanbul, you'll talk when you get a bit of Veritaserum in you, mate," Ron said.

"Ron, check his bloody mouth!"

It was too late; Harry went to charge back toward them just in time to see Malzahar pushed what appeared to be a black walnut shell out of his mouth with his tongue and then pulled it back in to snap his jaw down on it. Black veins spread out from his lips and down his chin and Malzahar lay shaking before finally falling silent. Ron grabbed him by the chin whipping his head to the side and prying his mouth open to find a puddle of black sludge now filling it.

Harry placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Death seed," he said. "The Ministry said they weren't going to come easy," he added.

Ron nodded quietly.

"Hermione and Ginny will be fine, don't worry," said Harry.

"Didn't think that bloke meant to kill himself."

"You had no way of knowing he would, either. Let's collect them up and go get yelled at for our incompetence," Harry said slapping Ron on the back.

* * *

The Muggle pubs were packed, but they offered an alternative to the ones in Diagon Alley and the rest of the Wizarding World. After over a decade of being around it, Hermione wasn't finding magic quite as spectacular. She longed to spend one night out with friends being regular and not having to think about witches and wizards. Though there was some drawback to Muggle men…

"Hey, Red, do the carpets match the drapes?" shouted an intoxicated man wearing a necktie around the top of his head as he was stumbling past. His outstretched arm pointed at Ginny.

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "What does that mean? I just _know_ it was something offensive—oooo I want to hex him," she said.

"You can't, Gin. It's illegal," Hermione reminded.

"Just a teensy-tiny hex—I can make it look like a mistake," Ginny said holding her fingers up to indicate a small size. She was having trouble balancing on her stool and her breath was hot with vodka.

Hermione grasped Ginny at the shoulder tenderly. "This is why we took your wand away. You have a tendency go a bit overboard."

On Ginny's other side was Luna. She sat with an airy look that would have usually indicated someone as being drunk or high, but it was normal for her. She typically got that look and Hermione knew the two beers attached to Luna's head on a garish, homemade hat had nothing to do with it. "I think it was nice of him—that man obviously wants to know if you've decorated your flat or whatever so that the carpets and drapes match," Luna said before taking another sip of beer through the hat's straw. "Maybe he's gay."

"I'm sure that's it," Hermione mused as she stirred her drink slowly. Though she tried to hide it, the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile.

There was no conversation between them for a long time and the rap song booming out through the pub filled the silent gap. A group of rowdy girls from the corner of the bar linked hands and walked out to a small open space on the floor to dance. A nearby guy took notice and worked his way between two of the girls. Hermione realized that Ginny was watching the same scene as her when she spoke.

"Why do Muggles dance like that, seems a bit too erotic," Ginny said watching the two women grind against either side of the man.

Luna blinked absently. "Maybe we should try it," she said.

"Pah," Ginny said. "Could you imagine my uncoordinated brother and Hermione trying to dance like that?"

Hermione felt her cheeks go hot and fought to keep it hidden. "Or we could ask Harry if he wanted to give you a demonstration like that—" Hermione said in retaliation.

Ginny pursed her lips gazed down at the floor quietly. It wasn't often that Hermione teased her about Harry, but it made for a good defense. Besides, if Ginny kept this pace with drinking she wouldn't remember any of this tomorrow. If anything the mention of Harry would only make her drink more.

In the almost three years since the end of the war, Harry had regarded Ginny with some caution and kept her at a distance. Hermione knew that it bothered her and she was actually wrestling with the question of why he would do that. He hadn't said much to anyone about it.

"Excuse me, but you want to dance?" a slender man in a black and blue argyle cardigan had strolled up to ask Luna. His thick, black rimmed Buddy Holly glasses reminded Hermione immensely of the ones Harry used to wear. Luna offered her hand to the man and he whisked her away to the dance floor.

"Give me the whole bottle, they might as well," Ginny said as Hermione turned back to watch her purchasing another pair of drinks for herself. "I don't want to remember tonight," she threw back one of the drinks in an instant and slammed the glass down on the bar. It toppled over wasting the ice on the counter top. She simply ignored it and began to sip from the other glass.

Hermione sighed inwardly and moved her napkin to wipe up the mess. "Maybe we should head home when Luna comes back? Call it a night," she felt a pang of guilt. "You can stay at my flat if you don't feel like—"

"I want to go back to the Burrow," Ginny said.

"Gin, you're too drunk—you don't live there anymore and I'm sure you're mum doesn't want you stumbling in lashed and knocking all of her things over," said Hermione. She silently hoped that there wasn't an overlooked stop for _intoxicated_ on the Weasley's clock. "Let's get you a water," she raised her hand to flag the barkeep down. Her first instinct had been to take out her wand and refill one of the glasses, but she stopped herself.

Out on the dance floor, Luna was spinning in circles against the guy she had gone to dance with. She pawed at the air with her fingers, in an almost feline manner. The poor guy was so drunk that he didn't seem to care or be weirded out and he even began to follow her lead, laughing as he did. Hermione shook her head at the pair of them and turned back to find Ginny laying her head down on the bar.

"Why are you so sad all of a sudden?" asked Hermione.

"Don't want to talk about it," Ginny's voice was muffled into her arm.

Hermione placed her hand between Ginny's shoulder blades, massaging a gentle circle into her bare back. They'd dressed up for the night, but not in the sense they would have usually considered _dressed up_. Ginny wore something that was part dress and part-chemise. It was a sparkling purple color and contrasted well with her freckled skin, it also left the patch of skin just below her neck uncovered. Even now, sitting here comforting Ginny, Hermione couldn't shake how out of place she looked in her own knee length red dress and she wondered how Luna did it.

_Easy. Luna didn't care how she looked. _

"You can tell me, _I know,_" Hermione spoke the words in such a light tone that she feared the music and the crowd might have torn them away.

Ginny turned and looked up at her, reddened from the drinking and the corners of her mouth twisted into enough of a smile for it to brighten the rest of her appearance. "I'm just worried about Harry—he's burning himself up lately and…"

"I don't think he's quite as bad as you think," Hermione lied. She knew it wouldn't have normally worked but Ginny was drunk.

"Not that it matters…he doesn't care…he doesn't care that I care…" Ginny rolled her head against her arm.

"Stop it."

"He hates me," Ginny said.

Luna returned from her dance holding something between her hands and looking down at it. "The Muggle gave me a strip of parchment with his number," she said between Ginny and Hermione, as if she was speaking to neither of them. "His name is Mark."

"We have to go, Luna," Hermione said.

As if she hadn't noticed it before, Luna rushed in between Hermione and Ginny so that Hermione was forced to withdraw her hand. "What's the matter, Ginny?" Luna asked rubbing her hand up and down Ginny's arm.

"No," Ginny managed.

"We're taking her home?" asked Luna, turning back to Hermione.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't want to leave her alone right now. She needs one of us," she said.

"It's about Harry again, isn't it?" Luna said dimly and Hermione could tell right away that she was slightly intoxicated too.

Pushing away from them and out to the center of the floor, Hermione sighed. "We're going to need to get her out of here, when we're outside I'll go get my car," she said.

"Why did we bring that thing?" asked Ginny. "We can Apparate, I'm going to Apparate home now," she tugged herself up from the bar and Luna grabbed hold of her tightly and held her in place.

"We're going to drive, it'll be more fun," Luna suggested in an overly happy tone. "Come on," she pulled Ginny along beside her and they trailed behind Hermione as she pushed her way through the crowds of Muggles and back toward the door. Luna and Ginny waited near the entrance to the pub where there was a line of men straggling in whom looked to have already done their drinking.

Hermione shot a glance over her shoulder at where Ginny rested against Luna. "I'll be right back, the car's just over here," she said reassuringly. "I'll be right back," she repeated.

The streets were a murky wet mess as Hermione made her way around the corner into the alley shortcut that bisected the block which she had parked the cars on the opposite side of. Everything was soaked and she could tell they'd been struck with a fresh bout of rain since she'd entered the club. The alley held a rancid food smell that she was sure no amount of scrubbing or spellwork could release.

She tugged her dress to one side to avoid a narrow impasse between the haphazardly placed rubbish bins. The sheer power of the odor caused her eyes to tear up. Hermione slapped a hand to her mouth and gagged as she pulled past the bins and out into the open again. Someone tugged at her skirt and before she could gaze off to her side a weak voice called up to her.

"Spare some change, love?" the man was covered in blankets wrapped with empty trash bags, his nearly toothless face was staring up at her.

Hermione fished into her purse and grasped around. _Bigger on the inside_, she tried to hide the face and her fingers rubbed against some Wizard money. That wouldn't help this man. She grasped crisp note of Muggle Money.

Fishing it out, she glanced down at it only a moment before passing it to him. "Here you are, a ten pound note," she flashed a smile. "Don't spend it all in one place," she added with a short, stifled giggle.

"Bless you, Miss," he said accepting it. "Bless you."

Hermione nodded and turned to jog the rest of the block. She moved hurriedly toward the corner, her heels clicking against the pavement as she went and then she froze midstride. Her hands shook, wearily and she could feel her steamy breath rolling past her lips, see it rising into the air in front of her. The air had chilled.

Grasping the strap of her clutch, she looked to the homeless man still examining his money. A shiver worked its way down her body and when she turned back the hooded figure of a Dementor was levitating just before her.

_Had it sneaked up? How?_

She backed away, dropping her bag and going for her wand. There was a startling rattle as something cold and dry slammed her from behind, knocking her into the brick wall. She let out a sharp shriek as she went down, the bag and her wand just outside her grasp. The eyeless visage of a Dementor hovered above her and she could suddenly feel draining dread wash over her. Waves of panic overtook her and she could hear the echo of a scream and then a voice. _"I'm going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?" _it was as if the voice was at a distance, but she remembered it as Bellatrix.

There were two of them now.

Hermione felt herself pinned down in the Malfoy Manor again. _"What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall you run you through with this knife!"_ the voice was closer now but Hermione was back in the alley fighting to reach her wand.

The Dementor drew closer, she could feel Bellatrix's weight pressed against her and there was anticipation of the next volley from the Cruciatus Curse. Hermione's body burned, stung with pain. She could taste the blood. She couldn't move and the past and present seemed to mingle together. Reality slipped away and she was enveloped in darkness.

A vision of Ron bleeding on the forest floor, injured with a splint flashed before her. Then the sight of the basilisk reflected in a mirror outside the girls lavatory at Hogwarts. It was so fast and in-between each moment she could see the Dementor lording over her—Bellatrix's demented voice reverberated around her.

"_Filthy Mudblood!"_

"You have a bad trip or something?" she blinked and it was the homeless man from before. "It sure got cold fast," he said.

Hermione's arm was still outstretched, still going for the wand. She couldn't managed the words, her eyes would barely stay open. The homeless man followed her line of sight over to the wand. "You want this? Is it like your drugs or something?" he grasped it and handed it back to her.

Summoning up everything within her, every memory that she could muster Hermione brought herself upright before the two Dementors. _The end of the war. Graduation. My baby sister being born. Ron and me…_

She didn't remember saying the incantation, but a brilliant, silvery otter burst from the tip of her wand in a fit of blinding light. The homeless Muggle stumbled back into the trash cans and toppled over as the Dementors were forced up into the night sky high above the city.

There was a wet warmth on her bare arm. _Blood._ She sank to the concrete and drew a ragged breath, her body going limp slowly and the darkness fighting to swallow her.

"Is there medicine, in your purse?" the homeless man opened the small bag and gasped. "What the Hell…" he tossed it down next to her. "I'm going to get help, stay here."

But it was no use, she couldn't move any longer and the blackness had taken most of her sight. In the last wink of an image she saw, the homeless Muggle was rounding the corner back toward the club.

* * *

Despite all that Harry had seen, Kingsley Shacklebolt was still a startlingly imposing person to stand near. He was taller than Harry or Ron or almost anyone else they knew and his skin was a dark, rich brown that in contrast made his teeth like ivory when he smiled.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was doing _anything _but smiling right now.

His huge arms were folded over his wide chest and he stared incredulously down at Ron and Harry. He studied them in the silence, the _Ottoman Organization of the Occult_ members had left them in peace to talk about the botched mission.

Shaking his head, Kingsley paced back and forth in front of Harry and Ron. It wasn't everyday that the Minister of Magic jumped international borders Auror Business—_then again it wasn't everyday that someone made an attempt on the Minister's life._

"So, we've heard how yours died, Potter," Kingsley scoffed. "I can't _wait_ to hear this," he said before aiming his thumb back over his shoulder at where the two bodies rested against the stone wall together, the brothers: Amir and Malzahar. "Where did—_where did his bloody head go_?" he said clasping his hand to his face.

Ron swallowed audibly. "There was a lot going on and it's hard to see with all the sand and sun in your eyes…" Ron started.

"Sand, sun, wind, rain—it's why Quidditch players wear goggles," Kingsley said rapidly, "you should know this Mister Weasley. Where did…his head go?"

"Harry had almost fallen and those rugs fly fa—"

"Why did you bring me back a headless corpse to interrogate?" asked Kingsley. We're supposed to talk to him, do you see the issue here? Do you see the conflict of interest? He's got no head, no mouth and I'm pretty sure he's _bloody dead_."

"Reductor curse," Ron said suddenly. "It got away from me."

"We really had no idea you'd be here to do the questioning, sir," Harry said.

Kingsley eyed Harry again. "Wouldn't I be?" he asked. "They tried to kill me, my wife, my daughters," his accent hit the last word especially hard. "How would you react if someone tried to hurt Hermione or Ginny?" his gaze fell on Harry at Ginny's mention and it was as if there was a palpable weight cast by his eyes. Harry leaned forward casually to get out from under it.

"Sorry sir, they were being especially vicious," Ron said. "I aimed the curse at the rug but he was wavering up and down so much that I must have miscalculated and it hit him in the face when he turned."

"They were determined to die, if we had captured them I doubt they still wouldn't have taken their own lives before we had time to administer the truth serum," Harry added.

"Even so, we can't let you fly around blowing off people's heads with curses," said Kingsley. "That kind of behavior might fly with the Russian Aurors, but I'll have none of it."

"Yes, sir," Harry and Ron said in unison.

There was a change in the room, like the air in the area had just sighed, Kingsley took a long gaze back at the bodies and conjured himself a chair to sit down across from them. He laced his fingers together and rested his chin atop his knuckles. "What did you find out?" he asked after he sighed himself.

Ron looked to Harry, searching for something in his eyes. Then he flicked his gaze back to the Minister. "Hermione and my sister might be in danger—and there's a larger force at work here," he said.

"Where did you gather this _larger force_ thing?" Harry asked. "I don't remember hearing that."

"I just…I just thought of it. It came to me," Ron answered. "They'd have to have some backing for the things they've pulled."

Kingsley raised an eyebrow in Ron's direction. "Theory, Mister Weasley?"

"There's something larger at work here, sir," Ron said.

Harry nodded slowly. "He's right; this has got to be something bigger than just two brothers. It might be a loose conglomerate of small groups—I mean we never caught all of the Death Eaters, maybe they're trying to upset the balance of power," he suggested.

"When it's your family the political dispute becomes rather…personal," Kingsley said.

"Believe me, if Ginny and Hermione are in danger—I know the feeling all too well," Ron said.

Harry said nothing. He was tired of people insinuating things about him and Ginny when there was nothing…at least not anymore. There hadn't been for a long time.

"We're going to—" started the Minster.

"We're going to need to get you a heavier security detail of Senior Aurors, loyal ones," Harry said.

Kingsley rose from his seat. "I'd rather you put the detail on my family—and if need be I will make sure all of the Weasley's and Miss Granger and her family are well seen to too," he said.

"Thank you, sir," Ron said.

"I've got to get back to London—at least we have a little more to go on than when we started," said Kingsley. "They've asked that you remain in Istanbul for a few hours tightening up some of the loose ends."

"Yes, sir."


	3. Chapter Two: Old Friend

**Chapter Two: Old Friends**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**Nothing to Report…**_

* * *

Her face was frighteningly pale with green eyes that switched to red when she blinked. He had been thinking about her lately when there was nothing else on his mind. It wasn't love or infatuation; he just couldn't shake the feeling that he had met the girl. She was too familiar, like someone he'd heard about repeatedly and had close scraps of almost meeting. Her hair was deep brown, haphazard curls that and she wore something lacy. He couldn't tell, it was usually her face—always her face.

And the sight of her in his mind's eye brought back other old feelings. Something he'd thought dormant prickling at his forehead. Though this was different, this was pleasurable.

Then the image changed. He could see the girl from the neck up and everything around her was blurred into obscurity. Her lips were moving now. She was yelling something that he couldn't hear.

There was nothing but a stinging howl in his ears…

Harry Potter blinked the vision out of his head and opened his eyes to see Ginny's familiar freckled face, flanked by frizzed red hair, staring back at him. She examined him from so close that he could taste the liquor on her breath. For a moment he gazed into her eyes, unsure of how to reacted or even if this was reality.

"Wake up…come on…why are you just staring like that?" she asked.

He blinked again and swallowed. "Sorry, I'm awake," he said. The sound of his voice startled her and she jumped back. "Ginny? Why are you here—where's Ron?"

"He left," Ginny said and for the first time he noticed a tinge of grief in her voice. "Said you were here but he was too worried to stick around, Luna took him back to London," her eyes brimmed with tears as she spoke.

Harry grasped her shoulders and he couldn't help but think of the way her skin felt so familiar in his hands. "What happened?"

Ginny's full weight plowed down into him, her knees on the couch to either side of him. She wept openly on shoulder with her arms bound tightly around Harry's neck. It crossed his mind that what Hermione told him was playing out. Ginny was a bit emotional when she drank. He wondered if something silly hadn't happened to bring her all the way across the continent to him because of her inebriated state.

"What's the matter?" he asked rubbing her back. It worried him that she might take things the wrong way and start thinking they were together again.

She drew a sharp breath against his shoulder and he found his hands combing through her hair. The words spilled out of her mouth so fast they were garbled by sobs. "Hermione was attacked by a Dementor and she hit her head."

Harry retracted his hand, caught off guard by her statement. "Are you sure?"

She nodded against his chest. "Yeah—they checked her wand. Last spell she cast was a Patronus."

Quietly he sat staring past Ginny at the blank wall.

"They don't know how bad it is, she won't wake up. We took her to a Muggle Hospital because there's not much to be done for the type of injury and at least her parents can see her there," Ginny sat back and took his face in her hands. For the first time he realized that she was straddling him and still crying and he didn't care. She pushed her hands back through his hair and he didn't respond for a long time.

Every since their break up at the end of his sixth year, it had been impossible for him to get near her without the fears flooding back in, the fear that she would be hurt because of him. Even Malzahar's words just hours earlier had dredged that feeling up.

Now that very real fear was playing out with Hermione.

"You have to take me to her," he said finally.

* * *

Luna felt a small rush of relief flood over her when Hermione's parents left. She still wasn't sure what to do with Ron, comforting people wasn't a specialty of hers. He'd been quiet and since they had arrived he hadn't spoken a word to her or even looked at her. Part of her wondered if he thought she was to blame for this. Only one other person was in a position to help when it happened and that was his sister.

The Muggle hospital was both remarkably similar to Saint Mungo's and unlike anything Luna had ever seen. There were bags of strange potions hung on what looked to be a coat rack next to Hermione's bed with tubes that fed them down into her arms through needles. Behind the bed a plethora of machines chimed and counted up and down to different things. One kept a steady series of beats that monitored her heart, Luna could tell by the picture of a tiny cartoon heart next to the number.

She didn't dare inquire about these things to the doctors or Hermione's parents—though it didn't worry her how out of place she must have looked she knew it would be insensitive to ask those sorts of things. Luna wasn't as dense as people figured her to be and she really didn't mind being seen as dense. Those who really cared about her knew the truth.

Hermione wasn't her best friend, but there had been a mutual understanding reached between them at some point and they were even spending time alone. The whole thing was eating at her; it made no sense. Where did a Dementor come from? Why did it attack in the middle of a populated area like that? _Why did she and Ginny have to be so useless and not be able to go with Hermione. None of this would have happened if…_

No. Luna spent enough time blaming herself for the death of her mother. For a little while she even thought she could have done more to help out at the battle in the Ministry of Magic and she never told Harry, but she wondered if she could have helped Sirius Black. Even if by warning him of the archway and what she thought it to be.

"You can leave if you want, you don't have to stay here," Ron said. Luna was sure she had imagined it.

A prim smile overcame her face. "It's okay. I want to stick around, Ronald."

He nodded and clasped Hermione's hand to his mouth. Slowly he rolled his cheek down against the back of her hand, clutching it to him. When he first arrived he had talked to Hermione, telling her that she had to be okay and that she was okay. Luna could see that confidence ebbing away from him now and with the Grangers gone there was little reason for him to remain positive. Running his hands back through the brown locks that protruded out under the bandages, he glanced up at Luna.

"Do you think these Muggles know what they're doing at all?"

"I think they're doing all they know how. Her parents seem to know a bit about this."

"Well, she doesn't belong here anymore. I could sneak the Grangers into Mungo's. I could talk to Kingsley or get my dad to help—but she needs to be where they can really do something for her!"

Luna clutched his shoulder. "You heard what Dawlish said."

"Are you going to trust a Voldemort supporter like Dawlish?"

"Calm down. He was cleared of the charges, Ron. You know that."

There was remorse in his eyes when he looked up at her. "You're right." There was a silence in the room for a long time and the machines that were helping Hermione breath and filling her with Muggle potions were the only sound. Their beeps and chimes fell into a sort of musical cadence. "What do you think is taking Harry and Ginny so long?" Ron asked gazing up at her.

"Your sister was very drunk and can't Apparate. Harry might have taken her by Floo to make sure she got back okay."

Ron furrowed his brow and turned back to Hermione. "Earlier today—I killed a man. It wasn't the first time, you know that, but I can't help but think this happened because of that. Like this is my punishment, you know?" He caressed Hermione's face. "If that's the case it shouldn't be her that's laying here."

"People say I'll believe anything—but I don't believe that."

He shook his head. "What if she doesn't make it, Luna? What if she dies like this?"

Luna took her wand from behind her ear and writhed it between her hands. "When you and Neville took it upon yourself to finish Greyback…Hermione was almost in tears. But I heard her say through it, you'd make it. And in the Malfoy's house and in the Ministry and that night…at the Astronomy Tower—the world seemed to be against us and we said '_Bugger the odds'_ and made it?"

"Yeah."

"She's going to make it again. There's no way a Dementor is going to kill someone as stubborn as Hermione Granger," Luna smiled though she wasn't sure of her own words.

There was a long period where the machines in the room played their improvised song.

"Thank you."

"No problem, Ronald."

* * *

All around him there were whispers, ghostly voices calling out to him from through the veil, but they were louder now. He could almost make them out. Maybe he could go to them, maybe it was a fluke that he had survived that last hex.

_Now isn't the time for that. I have to get up. I have to protect Harry…_

The sounds of the other Order of the Phoenix members was strangely lacking and there were no signs of Death Eaters or Harry or anything else that Sirius Black remembered except for the dreaded veil that flickered back and forth inside of the huge stone archway. He climbed to his feet eyeing it and checking the room for signs of where his companions and enemies had gone.

"Harry!" he called into the darkened expanse. "Harry!"

Sirius checked the upper echelons of the room for any sign of Bellatrix and went for the door. The building seemed to be empty so it was still night. He couldn't have been out for long because either the Death Eaters would have kidnapped or killed him or the Order would have taken him with them. They must have been somewhere else fighting.

But as he made his way back through the confusing maze that made up the inner workings of the Ministry of Magic he noticed that something was different. Things he had passed on the way in were changed and moved around or gone completely. An entire room's worth of magical experiments was now something else. Sirius thought he must have mixed it up, he was going the wrong way or had just mistaken what he'd seen.

Gone were the signs of struggle, though Sirius kept his wand in hand and at the ready. He crept along through room after room and the air around him just seemed wrong, the tension was all wrong. In fact there didn't seem to be any.

As he cracked open the door to the long corridor that lead out into the front of the Ministry he could hear voices, voices that belonged to real people.

"…like there will be enough owls to go around."

"Doesn't matter, Minister Shacklebolt wants all non-essential personal notified that we're locking the Ministry down until further notice."

"Merlin's teeth, my wife works down in the owlery—today's out anniversary, she'll be busy half the night with that. If she sleeps the whole day how are we supposed to do anything?"

"You only need her awake at night, am I right?"

"Do you think it's true what they said…about the dead coming back?"

"No idea. Whatever's going on I know they called Arthur Weasley into the Auror's office in the middle of the night to come in and take a look…"

The two men walked out of earshot as Sirius mulled over what they said. "Kingsley Shacklebolt? Minister? The dead coming back…" he slipped out of the door and headed down the hall around where the huge statue that greeted visitors to the Ministry resided. As he rounded into the wide corridor he gazed up at the statue resting above the fountain and found it completely different.

The statue still depicted a witch and wizard and with them were a centaur, goblin and house elf. But they were no longer gazing up in awe as he remembered them. They were joined by two other figures, a male and female Muggle. Lost in dumbfounded awe, Sirius stood in the center of the hallway staring up at the figures with jets of water pouring out all around them.

"Sirius Black!"

He turned at the sound of Arthur's voice to see the patriarch of the Weasley clan striding out of the hall and pushing his spectacles up onto his face. The look on his face was as if he hadn't laid eyes on Sirius in years.

"Arthur, what's going on here? Where's Harry and the others?"

"Oh dear, you're like the others—you don't remember anything except right before you…well never mind that. I just came back up to get something from my offices but I'm glad I ran into you."

Sirius shook his head. "I don't understand, right before I _what?_"

Arthur eyed him with some concern. "About Harry, it's been almost five years since the battle that took place here..."

"Five years!"

"Look, Sirius it's all a lot to explain. Just follow me back down to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I have something to show you."

* * *

The scent of acetone sterilized linoleum and the white fluorescent lights. Harry couldn't take it for long. He could see Hermione like this and after fifteen minutes by her side he opted to head back to his flat. Ron's last words were ringing in his ears as he left, perhaps the most surprising thing that Ron ever said to him.

"Take Ginny home with you just to watch out for her."

Even if he didn't think that this connected to what Malzahar said, Harry couldn't turn down Ron. And even though she insisted that she didn't need anyone to look out for her and that she was a big girl, there was still innocence in her doe-like eyes. Despite her protests, when he said yes, Harry knew Ginny would follow.

They made their way back to his place through the Floo Network and came out of the fireplace in sequence. Harry went straight to the kitchen and filled himself a glass of whiskey. "Sorry the place is a mess," he said. "I'm going to give you the bed and I'll just sleep across from you on the couch."

The entire apartment was one room, the kitchen was partially walled off and the bathroom was the only actual separate room. Though it was pretty clean, he didn't feel like it was ample for letting Ginny stay over. Ginny had never actually been in his apartment before.

"Not what I expected at all," her voice was imbued with exhaustion. She wasn't going to mention Hermione, Harry knew better than that.

"Thanks," he told her as he flicked his wand to turn the lights on.

Ginny closely examined the books and photographs on a book shelf near one corner of the room. Her silence broke the conversation for a moment and then she glanced back at him. "Can't believe you live by yourself, I always thought you and Ron would be rooming together."

"Think we planned it like that too, it was just always kind of odd. I'm not here much what with work and all."

She stopped at a picture near the corner of the shelf that he knew all too well, he'd studied it himself in the idle time at the flat. "I can't believe you kept this one."

"It's my favorite one…of the four of us," Harry brought the bottle from the kitchen area and walked back to the couch to sit down.

Ginny crossed the room with the picture still in hand. "I wonder why," she said sitting down on the couch. "Could it be because Hermione and Ron look like a couple here for the first time and I'm kissing your cheek while you're staring down my top?" he thought he saw a smile break through her grief stricken exterior as she spoke.

He flashed a smile back. "That's an optical illusion, my eyes weren't doing that."

"It's a wizard photo, Harry, I can see them moving up and down my cleavage like you're inspecting a new wand for cracks…"

"There were no cracks, you know."

Ginny pushed his face away from hers and for the first time he realized how close they were together. He wondered if someone had looked for this kind of interaction, if this was why people wanted to hurt her. Now she was moving her finger over the glass of the frame right above Hermione's face.

"I'm sure you're worried. She's been like the closest thing I had to a big sister and when you live in a house filled with men that means a lot."

Harry nodded as he sipped from his glass. "Sometimes I felt like she was me and Ron's mum, she certainly acted the part well. I can't imagine not having her around."

"Well you're not going to, either," Ginny dropped her head to his shoulder. "She's going to be okay, she has to be."

"It's late Ginny, we should probably get to bed," Harry said.

She sat up straight and just gazed down into her lap, giving a slight nod.

* * *

There was an explosion that rocked the entire corridor and the pockmarked face of Augustus Rookwood cackled with laughter. Hexes, curses and charms were flying everywhere and the halls of Hogwarts were literally cascading down around them. The entire school had fallen into a mass of panic.

Everything was happening out of order. Fred was bleeding out on the ground and the Death Eaters were hefting Harry's limp body between them, hooting and gloating as they entered the hall. Spells streaked past Ginny, narrowly missing as she dueled with Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione and Luna were attempting to help flank the Death Eater but it seemed that even with the three of them they were at best on equal footing.

All around them the school crumbled and burned. People were dead, knocked out and defeated laying here and there.

And in the midst of Bellatrix's taunts Ginny could see her brother Fred, frozen in terror with blood splattered across his face and staring up at her from the rubble strewn hall. Her own clothes were streaked with blood and there were scorch marks. This could be the last fight for her, there was no Liquid Luck to protect her this time. As Bellatrix leveled her wand at her to release the Killing Curse she could hear a voice.

"You have to learn to trust me, Ginny—I'm your friend."

It was Tom Riddle's voice inside her head that caused her to awake under the darkened unfamiliar ceiling. The sound of late night London traffic alerted her to where she was and she rolled over and moved the covers back to see Harry laying on the couch with his wand clasped between his hands. He was sleeping soundly enough it seemed.

Suddenly she didn't care about the presumptions anyone else would have or the fact that Harry had protested their relationship. Ginny stumbled out of the bed with the blanket and crawled into Harry's arms and drew the covers over them. Perhaps he wouldn't awaken or notice and she could stay there the remainder of the night. But as if on instinct he wrapped his arms around her back pulling her closely.

"Gin, what are you doing?" he rasped.

"I'm just going to lay here, please." She was too tired to put up her defenses, too tired to argue.

"Okay," he kissed the back of her neck and drew her closer. She could feel his breath rolling over her shoulders and feel him brushing her hair with his hand until he was lulled back to sleep. For a time she lay there wondering if he had even realized that she was laying there with him in reality or if he thought it was a dream.

* * *

In his dreams he was back outside of Hogwarts Castle rolling around in the grass near the Quidditch patch. The sunny spring sky of his sixth year was just as he remembered it and he could feel Ginny against him and look down into her eyes as she smiled up at him. Ron and Hermione were nearby and Luna had actually followed the four of them out on this day. But other than that they were alone.

Kissing Ginny hadn't felt weird when he did it in front of Hermione or Luna or even Ron. The thought that went into it, the idea to lock lips just felt like a natural response to being around her. Her lips were soft and he could taste the sweet hint of Butterbeer in her kiss. _This was so easy, this was how it should be._

_Then why wasn't it? Why isn't it now?_

Something pierced his thoughts. There was a familiar jab that he remembered instantly from his private lessons with Professor Snape. Someone was trying to use Legilimency on him. His own Occlumency was out of practice, that much was true, but the connection into his mind was severed with such ease that it was as if someone had changed the channel on a Muggle Television.

The woman from before, the dark haired woman with familiar green eyes was staring at him with a black void behind her.

"_You understand that without me, she will surely die. Your friend teeters on the edge of a chasm between life and death."_

With a tug the channel switched back. His lips were at Ginny's shoulder as she giggled playfully. Harry wrestled for control over his mind, he could feel the invasion coming on but he strained to contain himself in his dream. He was over Ginny and pinned her arms back to the damp grass beneath them and the giggling was gone. In an instant he sensed the situation was wrong, her face _was wrong_.

Ginny's usually vibrant freckled face was now twisted and pale, her eyes black holes and her lips cracked and dry. The world around them throbbed and flickered but he could hardly tear his eyes away from Ginny as she opened her mouth and elongated her face to let out a deafening screech.

Startled Harry went to push himself up from Ginny's grasp and a voice that didn't belong there called his attention. _"I thought that would get your attention." _

The dark haired woman had walked up next to him and Ginny and sat down on a rock that he was sure didn't previously exist. When he chanced a glance back at Ginny, her face was normal, though she was frozen in time now. The whole scene around them had stopped, the grass bent from the wind and unmoving and the clouds in the sky standing perfectly still.

Harry got to his feet. "Who are you?"

"_Someone who is here to tell you that I'm holding the life of your very dear friend in my hands, though you needn't worry." _

"How could I not worry? You need to leave her alone—if it's me you want!"

"_How very modest of you, believe me those Dementors weren't my doing. But I want to make sure I get to talk to you before you go thinking that this is the end of your troubles."_

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Harry strutted toward her but he couldn't seem to move closer. She moved back at a pace constant with his forward motion, he was walking in place.

"_You seem to be fraught on all sides by a destiny tied to the stuff of legends; I'm a fan of yours Harry. In fact, you helped me collect something I was having a bit of trouble with. You Wizards are a tricky bunch." _She laughed and Harry thought that it was a very teen-girlish thing to do.

"You're a Muggle?"

"_God no, I'm not even a Human. Not fully anyway. As a special thanks for your help,"_ she spoke waving her hand back and forth with an aura of nonchalant-ness that that betrayed the gravity her words held. _"And just 'cause I like you so much, I'm going to put Hermione back together and give you fair warning—the bindings that hold the world in place are slipping." _

This was wrong. His Auror training had given him that much of an idea about what he was dealing with. "This is some kind of deal, is it? I…"

"_There's no deal. You're not agreeing to anything. It's done, she's saved." _

"But you said that the bindings that hold the world—what did you mean?"

The dark haired woman was suddenly next to him and she ruffled his hair with a smirk plastered on her pale face. _"Oh Harry,"_ she said affectionately. He had felt this caress before, this intimate closeness. _"This is where the fun part begins; I know how you love a surprise. But I'm sure that the symptoms of what I'm saying will present themselves very soon." _

"Wait…who are you?"

"_An old friend."_


	4. Chapter Three: Guardian Angel

**Chapter Three: Guardian Angel**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**Before this little chapter gets underway I just wanted to say—I'm actively looking for beta readers, not sure how to really find one as easily with the beta program, but the more the merrier and anyone interested just message me.**_

* * *

"Have a seat, Sirius," Arthur Weasley's voice said from beside him.

When the shock wore off he'd step further into the room…if it did…Sirius wasn't sure he would be able to accept the gathering of people that he had walked in on. He suspected that after it had ended he would think it all some cruel dream.

The room they were in was warded against many manners of intrusion and eavesdropping. There were no windows and only one door, just for good measure. In the corner of the room stood Kingsley Shacklebolt still dressed in his night clothes. Sirius and Arthur stood in the doorway of the bland stone gray room. Most shocking of anything else were the occupants looking up at Sirius from the table in the middle of the room.

"Black," droned Severus Snape. He was staring up at Sirius between the greasy black curtains of his hair and looking just as Sirius remembered him.

Usually he would have had some retort or a witty comeback. But Snape was flanked on either side by the two people Sirius expected to see the least and the ones he had wanted most to see in all these years. Lily and James Potter.

There wasn't much time to process what he was seeing, while Snape looked every bit his age Lily and James looked just as they had at death, early twenties and vibrantly young. He searched their faces for signs of a trick or dream or something else all together—he wasn't sure what he looked for.

"Sirius…you look so old," Lily said with a small smile and then she blushed furiously.

Snape examined her intently and then flicked his eyes back to Sirius. His arms were folded and his expression seemed to soften for a moment before returning to its usual scowl.

"I don't understand, how is this possible?" asked Sirius.

"You're dead," Snape said before anyone else could answer. "They hadn't explained it yet, but I remember well enough that I died in Shrieking Shack only to wake up there a day ago and Black died just downstairs in the Department of Mysteries, Harry was truly broken up over it."

Sirius was startled. He felt alive now.

James shook his head. "I don't understand any of this…how can we be here like this? I was in my old house and Lily was there too. Everything looked so old and we couldn't find Harry—where's Harry?"

Sirius's shoulders slumped. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

"When I last saw Potter he was about to engage the Dark Lord in one on one combat, then I passed."

"Well that task is over," said Shacklebolt. "Harry killed Voldemort in front of an audience of most of the students at Hogwarts and anyone who's anyone in Wizarding Britain."

"You Potters never could miss a chance at having an audience, could you?" Snape glared at James.

Lily intertwined her hand with her husband's on the table in front of Snape. "Just remember who else is a Potter now, Sev."

Snape's expression toward Lily was less sinister. "I'm sure I remember it all too well."

Sirius clambered into a chair across from the three of them, laughing as he sat down. "I don't believe this…I can't believe it. Has Harry been told? How is it that we're here?"

"We don't know, actually," Arthur said. "It's somewhat worrying, if you will excuse me for saying and at the same time it's exhilarating." There was a long pause. "I lost my son in the fighting at Hogwarts…"

James and Sirius lowered their heads in reverence and Snape just glanced off to his side. It was Lily who spoke a quiet condolence. "I'm sorry."

"But I suppose that you need to know where we stand," Kingsley broke in. "Currently it is the year 2002 and I am the current Minister of Magic. Hogwarts is run by Minerva McGonagall and your son," his eyes fell on Lily and then James, "is one of the most promising young Auror's I've witnessed."

Lily sighed. "Then we missed a lot. How is Harry? Is he…well what is he?"

"He's basically part of my family, he spent most of his holidays at my house during his school years and Molly and I've treated him like one of our own. And he seems to have taken a liking to my daughter…"

"…he's got James's complex for being a showoff on and off of the Quidditch pitch, though he seems to have picked up your kindness," his eyes flashed to Lily.

Sirius chuckled. "He's a fantastic duelist and he made friends with a sweet Muggle-born witch who reminds me a lot of you, Lily."

Kingsley and Arthur's expressions darkened. "There is bad news of that. Hermione Granger was attacked by Dementors earlier today, yesterday now, and she isn't expected to live more than a few days."

"Was she kissed?" Sirius jumped from his chair, knocking it over.

"No, she hit her head and was rendered unconscious. She's at a Muggle Hospital so that her parents can be there with her, we don't know of anything they could do Magical or otherwise for her," Arthur said.

"If I could be allowed to assess her injuries I could perhaps brew something to help with the injury," Snape said.

Kingsley shook his head. "There's really nothing, she hit the ground in such a way that her brain was actually exposed. It was only luck she didn't die."

Sirius sank down into his chair covering his face with his hands. "Those things…they've caused more pain than they're worth. We should have never let them stand guard at Azkaban. There's just…there's no controlling them for long."

"We don't use them anymore; in fact we thought they had all vanished. There's been no known attacks from them sense the war," said Arthur. "We didn't know where they had gone."

"None of that will help Hermione now, we fed those things and kept them healthy for so long that they don't know how to do anything but feed," Sirius said. "Harry's going to be crushed if that girl dies."

* * *

Harry was snatched to the floor off of the couch and the covers flopped down over his head. He clambered for his wand through the sheets and fought to get himself upright though he was tangled very tightly in the blankets. _Where had he gotten blankets from?_

Through the sheets he grasped something thin and wooden, _there you are._ Silently he cast the banishing charm and the sheets popped off of him. He leveled the wand at a target across the room and chanced a glance back at his empty bed. "You bloody well know what you were doing! Wait till I tell mum, that's right I'm telling mum Ginny!"

"You make one move to do that and I'm going to kick your ass Ron!" Ginny yelled.

"I'm sending her a Patronus, I don't have to go anywhere!"

Ginny tackled Ron to the ground. "I can't believe you, and with Hermione hurt you're still acting like a spoiled prat!"

He wiggled and wormed his way out from under Ginny slowly and she tried to pin his arms back to his sides so he couldn't cast a spell. Despite being smaller, Ginny managed to hold him. Quidditch had put her in decent shape, especially in the arms. "You're one to talk! I came here to tell you the good news and I catch you _comforting _Harry by shagging him!"

Harry could see the shock and anger play across Ginny's face. For a moment he wondered what Ron meant about shagging. They hadn't been in bed together and then his thought flashed to the good news…what good news? Hermione? But what Ginny did next called all the attention back to the present altercation.

The youngest Weasley whipped her head back, her red locks swinging up behind her and slammed her forehead down into Ron's face as hard as she could. Ron screamed out, his voice muffled by a freshly broken nose and am out full of blood. Ginny reeled back grabbing her forehead.

"Bollocks! Ginny you broke my nose," he said holding his face.

"Wait—you said there was good news?" Ginny said. There was blood running down her forehead. Harry couldn't decide if it was hers or Ron's.

Ron looked at Harry. "Oh look who's awake," he removed his hand to reveal his utterly smashed nose. "Yeah I have good news, Hermione woke up. This Muggle nurse came in and she just said she wanted to try a new treatment. Made me and Luna step out and when we came back she was up and talking, even walking."

_Muggle Nurse…new treatment?_

Harry sprang up from the couch and rushed to Ron's side, almost bowling Ginny off of him. "This nurse, what did she look like?"

"Why does it matter? Hermione's okay?"

"Humor me, Ron."

For a moment Ron thought. "She was pale, pretty, dark brown hair. Hmm, she was only a little taller than Ginny is…"

"Did you see her eyes? What about them?" asked Harry.

Ron shook his head. "Why would I notice that?"

Harry walked off through the room. "We need to get to the hospital. Is the nurse still there?" he asked.

"I guess, she works there."

"Ron, I didn't sleep with Ginny. So you can stop being cross with me, but right now I need to find out who this nurse is. I have a suspicion I know her…" Harry said.

Ginny got to her feet to let Ron up. "Even if you did sleep with me, it's none of Ron's business."

"Oh yeah it is, you're my little sister," he said.

"Maybe you should ask Harry about what we were doing in the Room of Requirement his sixth year…" Ginny said.

Ron turned on Harry. "You had sex with my sister?"

"Nope, but close to it," Ginny walked between them and grabbed Harry's arm. "Come on, let's go see Hermione and find your nurse," she said.

"I need to go to the hospital now that you broke my bloody nose!"

* * *

"I'm alright, Luna," Hermione assured her friend, patting her lightly on the back of the hand. "You don't have to hover over me so attentively, honestly there's not even any pain."

Luna blinked rapidly. "Then that's not good at all. A lack of pain could mean your skull is missing under those bandages. Your brain might not even be able to feel pain…"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Luna for that very _distributing_ reminder why I wish you had gone to get them instead of Ron."

When she had first woken up, the nurses had taken most of the machines out of the room. All that remained was the intravenous line in Hermione's arm. No one could explain what happened; the word miracle had been thrown around a few times. Even when Hermione first awakened it seemed as if she had just taken a very restful nap. There was no pain or any other unsavory feelings.

"Ronald's going to tell your parents?"

Hermione nodded. "Bless, I hope he doesn't try to Apparate in on them. He's so excited but if he appears like that he'll scary my parents half to death."

"I'm sure he'll be courteous," Luan said. "Ronald tries hard…when it comes to you."

"What do you mean?"

Luna stared aimlessly out the window at the morning sky as she spoke. "He might make mistakes and he doesn't always know what to do. But he tries hard for you, you know?"

"Yeah. I think I get you," Hermione pressed her hands down into her lap. She had walked around and been out of bed earlier. But the doctors requested that she stay in bed, at least until her test results returned. "Luna?"

"Hm?"

"I used to think that you weren't very clever, which never made much sense because you were Ravenclaw. I think it's just that you were _off_ and that threw me. But the more that I get to know you, the more I wonder if you're not smarter than anyone else I knew at that school," Hermione said.

Luna wrenched her head back toward the door. "Someone's coming."

There was a light knock at the door and someone pushed the door inward. A handsome young man pushed his way into the room and tucked his hands into his lab coat. He shut the door behind him and smiled at the two women. "Hermione Granger, correct?" he pointed to her and she nodded. "I'm Doctor Weinstein—not sure if your parents told you about me…"

"…they said they'd met you at a convention of some type and I remember Ron mentioning that this morning."

"Yes, your boyfriend is very attentive," the doctor said. "I wanted to ask you about something that the three of you who were here all reported."

"Oh of course. Go ahead."

Luna just nodded.

"You said that you didn't get to see the name of the nurse whom you woke up to. Ron told me that he never saw a nametag on her at all. We're just trying to figure out who on staff it could have been. There were no nurses with dark hair assigned to this floor yesterday."

"She wasn't dressed like the others and her shoes were wrong," Luna said.

"Excuse me?" Doctor Weinstein asked.

"Her shoes," Luna leaned in and said louder as if he were hard of hearing. "Muggles use that word?" she whispered to Hermione. "Her shoes were high heeled, real fancy—I sat in the hall watching the nurses rush back and forth, back and forth," Luna swayed side to side as she said 'back and forth, "one wouldn't wear those shoes if they were on their feet all day. And her outfit it was skimpy, like..."

Hermione cut her off. "…a costume. I didn't get a good look at her, but I remember the skirt was extremely short and she even had one of those little hats that nurses in the old movies wore."

"That's all wrong," said Weinstein. "No one here dresses like that. I mean I can check, but I'm almost certain that none of the nurses _would let_ another nurse dress like that."

"Could they have slipped past security to get in?" Hermione asked.

Weinstein shook his head. "The doors lock electronically. You can leave if the guard is there to push the button, but short of breaking in, which would trip the alarm, you can't come in," he said. "Would anyone have any reason to sneak in to see you like that?"

"No—I mean do people usually break in?" asked Hermione.

"There's no sign of a break in. But people are saying it's a miracle and I'd have to say that due to the nature of the security tapes I'm inclined to agree…"

"What do you mean?" asked Luna.

Weinstein took a seat at the bedside table. "Well on the tape, your boyfriend and Luna here are seen leaving the room as if someone requested it and shutting the door. A few moments later they return to the room, which is when they claimed they found you to be awake and the nurse to be leaving. On the tape there is no one else, there's never a nurse…it's as if they imagined her."

At this, Luna chimed in. "There are a lot of things most people don't see or don't believe in," she said.

"I've always put my trust in medical science, but sometimes you have to just chalk one up to something else. If I were you, I'd say you have a guardian angel looking over you, Hermione," he said.

A slim smile stretched across Hermione's face. But she neglected to say anything for fear her voice would betray her thoughts. In her experience with the magical and fantastical world that she lived in for the past several years, Angels hadn't ever come up. There had never been a class where they were mentioned and she wasn't sure that there was a place for them in a world where people like Voldemort killed so many. Perhaps when you knew magic to be fact, ruling out the existence of a god or a god-like being was idiotic. But the thought never actually crossed her mind much and she didn't know what avenue to take with the suggestion that an invisible person had come into the room and saved her.

"I'll let you rest now, but I'll check in on you later," said the doctor.

She nodded and he hurried out of the room again. When he should have been out of earshot Luna piped up. "A vampire saved you," she said. "That's what it has to be—what else doesn't show up on cameras?"

Hermione shook her head. "That doesn't really work like that Luna, a vampire doesn't show up on a standard camera because of the mirrors used to transfer the image, Muggle Security camera's don't work exactly the same way. We should still see a vampire on them because they don't use mirrors."

Luna's expression didn't change. "Oh," she said with a shrug.

"Have you ever heard of talk of Angels or guardian spirits, Luna?" Hermione asked, sure that if there was something to believe in that the rest of the magical world didn't talk about, Luna would know of it.

"Heard of them, don't believe in them, though. Why?"

The phrased _don't believe in them_ coming from Luna Lovegood stunned Hermione so greatly that she sat staring at the blonde girl for a moment. "You don't…believe in them? Is there any writings on them from a Wizarding perspective?" asked Hermione.

"Oh yes. There's a lot about them and there was even a man…I can't remember his name but he was known for all kinds of wand-less magic and no one could quite figure out how he did it. He had some prophecies that are probably on file in the Department of Mysteries, they're the most publicized ones there…" Luna said.

"You mean there were prophecies dealing with Biblical events?" she asked. Hermione rolled her eyes. "We probably bowled them over in that fight when we were trying to escape Lucius Malfoy," she groaned.

Luna shrugged. "Not sure what a Bible is but Angels were mentioned somewhere in some of these things. And there are people who claimed to see them but the reports are very old, before there was even a separation between magic and the Muggle World."

"How come all of this isn't talked about in History of Magic?"

"History of Magic has a Eurocentric focus when it comes to events. There are many events that happened which are cleverly overlooked because of their lack of a connection to England. I did some out of school reading about events in other countries, like the Dark Wizard Croatoan use of magic to make an entire Muggle settlement vanish." Luna explained. "There wasn't an International Confederation of Wizards to police such events back then."

"So you're saying that amazing events in history that were magical go unnoticed a lot of the time, or at least in the public view? So there could very well be Angel reports elsewhere?" Hermione said.

"You seem obsessed with the idea of it being Angels, I just don't see how they could be real," Luna said.

"An invisible woman walked in here and accomplished a miracle by magic and technological standards, what would you have me think?"

Luna let out a light sigh. "It could have been another creature, we need to check into it properly," she said.

Hermione stared across the room toward the muted television that was playing a cartoon; Luna had been intently watching it only moments before. Cartoons really held her attention, though she seemed to take them a bit seriously. Now Hermione could barely see the television and in her head she kept reliving the moment when she awoke to the 'nurse' with dark curls standing over her bed.

There was something so familiar about her. She was like someone that Hermione had known but forgotten about, a relative she hadn't seen in a long time. The woman was young, possibly not even a woman yet and she was very beautiful and there was something else—_there's something on her back_.

Through her blurred vision upon first waking up Hermione had mistaken them and perhaps she was adding something to her own thoughts that hadn't been there. But for a second when she woke up and the dark haired woman stood before her, she thought she had seen wings.

* * *

Visitors and patients broke in waves around Harry and Ginny as they moved through the packed hospital lobby toward the lift. He scanned the room carefully as they neared the elevators, but people were so clustered he couldn't possibly have found anyone truly hoping to hide. Though, something told him she wasn't hiding.

_That girl who had offered him the deal, she was here…somewhere…_

It had been all he could think about since Ron had given him the news, Hermione was safe. Ron was off gathering her parents and Harry wouldn't have much time before they showed up in which to conduct his investigation. He couldn't put the Grangers in danger and he needed to slip away from Ginny.

"Harry! Wait up! What are you looking for?"

The idea that someone might be communicating with him through dreams would scare her, Ron or Hermione. Instinctively he slowed his gait and she stepped around to face him. There was familiarity at this distance which made lying that much harder.

"I just wanted to catch Hermione's nurse and thank her is all," Harry said plainly just before he flashed a quick smile at her.

Ginny tilted her head toward him slightly, as if to gain leverage for her eyes to burrow into him. "Okay," she agreed in a tone that only let him know she recognized his deception.

"I really…I can't," Harry said.

She was holding his hands in hers and he hadn't realized until she spoke again. "Don't shut me out again."

"Ginny..."

"Tell me." The crowd seemed to be thinning around them and she led him to the side. "We're not going anywhere until you do."

"Not right now," he was almost raising his voice.

"Then when?" she glanced down and off to the side. "You don't have to keep things bottled up anymore, Harry," she brushed the hair back from his forehead. "First you're talking in your sleep and now this."

"You heard me?" he asked.

Ginny's cheeks reddened. "I had a bad dream too and crawled onto the couch with you. I heard you…mumbling in your sleep—I hope you don't mind sleeping next to me," she added the last part quickly.

There was a flash of something in his head, a recent vision of a darkened room and him kissing the back of Ginny's neck and her being lulled back to sleep in his arms. Between dreams making deals with him and memories he couldn't accurately place, Harry Potter felt like he was losing it.

"I know you're worried about Hermione, she means the world to you, but…" Ginny pressed up onto her toes and kissed Harry. In an instant the thought of their last kiss rushed back in on him. They were in her room at the Burrow and he remembered the electricity of her lips and the feeling that this kiss meant more.

…_and there might have been more if Ron hadn't stumbled in. _

But this kiss was something different all together, like years of pent up emotion released in a huge burst and he was pulling her back against him the wall. His hand wrapped around the soft curve of her jaw and he trace a line down her neck with his thumb.

And when her lips briefly parted from his, her body was still pressed close to him, conformed to fit into the niches left by him against the wall. "I'm—I'm sorry," her breathing was heavy and her voice slightly raspy.

Harry stared into her eyes and remembered why he had told her it was over. He'd witnessed her almost die _for his fight_. It was too much to take, the thought of actually losing her. He had almost lost someone else and now he was still he was holding Ginny, brushing her hair back with his hand. "It's okay," he said.

"You know if you need me, Harry. I'm always here—I'm…" the world went dark around them as the ground trembled and the air was clogged with dust around them. He whirled her around against the wall and covered her with his body as a thunderous crackle filled the air. Even as the tremor died out people were screaming.

The emergency lights kicked on and a disheveled nurse held her hand up. "Alright, everyone—stay calm I just need you to file outside…"

Her voice was drowned out in a torrent of movement through the dimly lit lobby. Harry and Ginny were pressed together as they stepped out into the street and the smell of smoke wafted through the rain laden air.

Roaring flames were billowing out of a building down the block that had exploded and everyone was standing in awe. Harry drew Ginny to the edge of the sidewalk and faced her. "I need you to stay here."

"No, Harry."

He kissed her cheek. "Please just…" Harry tugged her so that her arms were around a sign post.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"_Incarcerous_!" he said and her hands were bound together around the pole with rope. "I'm sorry Ginny—if anything happened to you I could never forgive myself, just…please."

"Harry! Harry!" her shouting died out behind him as he rushed through the crowded London street toward the wall of flames.


	5. Chapter Four: A Wise Investment

**Chapter Four: A Wise Investment**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**The **__"__**Spada Convertire**__" __**spell and incantation is an invention of mine first used in the story **__**Slap Bet**__**. So don't bother looking for that one in canon or telling me its not a spell because I know. As before, still hunting for betas and still working my way through this. **_

* * *

There were no sirens in the distance as Harry pushed his way through the parked cars toward the conflagration. The rain seemed to grow heavier with each passing moment and he couldn't tell how far he had run. At first the fire looked to be up close, the light of it carried a heat that ebbed across him. Now he was a block and a half up and only beginning to near the flames.

Other than the fire and the dull roar of the rain, it was oddly peaceful near the burning building. The air was still, warm and wet. Harry cast a watering charm into the flames to quell them, but the water from the rain was already doing the job. He aimed the wand, hosing the area down until the first flame barrier dropped and he pushed in closer to the building. Parts of the building were on fire and he knew it would be unsafe to enter the building.

Past the first billowing fires Harry found only the scorched remains of cars and musty, wet smoking lumps sprawled out on the ground. The air smelt sticky and oily and Harry could feel the odor hanging in the air around him like a cloud, he almost imagined he could see it. Lowering his wand to his side he slowed to examine the smoldering street. He stepped nearer to one of the steaming husks on the ground and that's when he noticed the skeletal outline of a child's hand.

_The smoking lumps were people…_

With a thunderous thud, something large touched down behind Harry. He whirled around to see a huge dragon lumbering toward him, pushing to burned cars away with its massive form.

If Harry Potter was anything, he was brave. The Sorting Hat knew it. His classmates and friends had come to learn it. Perhaps most of the Wizarding world knew it—and he would even admit it in a pinch. Being brave came with being an Auror. But seeing a dragon that close up unexpectedly actually shook him.

"It had to be the Hungarian Horn-tail," he muttered.

Harry barely had time to raise his protection shield before the cascade of flames pounded into the shimmering barrier. He didn't have his _Firebolt_ this time and this dragon wasn't chained in place. The creature stomped toward him and threw its head back into a fierce roar. Harry slang a pair of silent stunners back into the dragon's face, staggering it slightly.

He stumbled over a charred body as he fought to put some distance between himself and the dragon. An intense heat licked as his back as another burst of flames unfurled behind him. Harry dove for the cover of the corner of the alley across from the burning building. Part of him silently wished that he had listened to all of those stories from Charlie Weasley about how they handled wayward dragons. Though he was sure that in a case where you were pitted against a Hungarian Horn-tail alone the only advice that one could truly hope to really follow was to run.

His mind was clogged with questions even as he tried to think of anything to fend the creature off. Most prevalent of all was _how had a Hungarian dragon made its way all to way to England free?_

"_Stupefy!" _

Harry stunned the creature in the face and darted from the alleyway and threw up a protection charm as he charged back away from the hospital and Ginny. He didn't know what was in the other direction, but he knew there was a crowd gathered in the streets at his back now. He ducked behind an already burned out car to fire a Reductor curse, it slammed into the dragon's chest but only seemed to put a bruise like divot in its skin.

A torrent of flames blossomed from the dragon's mouth and Harry charged back into the alleyway. The dragon stalked forward and blew into the air as Harry peeked around the corner at the massive beast.

What he was about to do was incredible only in the stupidity it took to muster such a plan. Harry stepped out of his hiding place and rushed the dragon with his wand held down at his side. He was unprepared for the creature to have its back to him and it whipped its tremendous tail across the street slinging him onto the opposite sidewalk directly in front of the burning building.

He moved slowly to rise, the soreness in his abdomen telling him that he'd been slammed badly and possibly cracked a rib or two. Luckily that's all it was. His body quaked in pain as he watched the dragon wheel itself about to attack him, somehow he thought that his chances with the business end of the creature were better—despite the whole fire-breathing-thing.

Clutching his side, he stared into the dragon's eyes as it glared down at him and snorted a pair of smoke puffs. The taste of blood was faint in his mouth and the whole world seemed to be vibrating. Harry took a deep breath; it was as if the dragon were waiting for him. This was his final chance.

"Nothing gained, nothing lost, I guess," Harry muttered before he threw his arms back and dashed into a maddening collision course for the dragon. He whipped his wand across, slashing at the air as he stunned and hit with the Reductor as rapidly as he could manage. He wove around a burst of flames and when the Horn-tail reared back to snap at him stunned it in the face causing it to draw its face up.

"_Spada Convertire!_"

Harry could feel every fiber of his being vibrate with adrenaline as the wand in his hand swelled out into a sturdy, shimmering broad sword. There was little time to admire the product of his Transfiguration as he brought the hilt of the sword up with one hand clutching it tight and the other cupped behind the base and drove it into the spongy area created by his curses. As he hit his mark hot blood sloshed out over his arms and down the front of his body.

With a hefty downward motion he slashed down through the dragon's once tough hide and the creature let out a tormented screech. Harry used the Homorphus Charm to return his wand to its regular form, though he left it and his arm plunged through the dragon's armor like skin. A final swish of his arm saw the final curse needed, a Reductor, and the dragon seized up and toppled over onto its side with a shutter as it lay bleeding out.

Harry retracted his arm. "That was a right rubbish plan—won't be doing that again," he shook his head. "At least Ginny or Hermione's not here to reprimand me," he said breathing a sigh of relief.

* * *

Despite the fact that Ginny knew the magical bindings to be nearly unbreakable, she persisted to tug at them. The crowds around her watched the spot where Harry had run off to and she couldn't garner the attention of anyone to help her. She leaned back, tugging against the thin magical twine and pressed her feet against the bottom of the pole for leverage to pry away.

She gave an extraneous heave and collapsed back onto the pole. "Bugger," she rasped as she closed her eyes. "Why does he have to try and be so blasted noble."

Ginny lifted her head and watched the curtain of flames that Harry had vanished through. Her mood ebbing between frustration and fear as she waited for his return. It seemed to her as if this was a constant state with her and Harry. Waiting. Waiting for him to notice her. Waiting for him to love her. Waiting for him to return for war. Waiting for him to come to his senses…

_Always waiting…_

"Looks like you could use some help," Ginny turned back to see a young girl shielding a cigarette from the rain behind her.

"I doubt it would be easy for you to help, but thanks," Ginny smiled.

The girl reached out with a dainty hand and grabbed the bindings and ripped them clean off in one pull. "There, feel better?"

"How did you…"

"I'm guessing your husband left you here…wait that's not right, sometimes it's hard to tell when I am," said the girl.

"Excuse me?"

"You're Ginny Weasley—didn't Harry Potter just leave you here?" she asked.

Ginny glanced the girl over, she'd never laid eyes on her before she was sure but there was something familiar about her. She wore a long white leather coat that fell just past her knees, a –shirt and a skirt. Her hair was black and tightly curled, framing her youthful face—_and there was that unearthly green glow to her eyes…_

"Do I know you?" she asked.

The girl shrugged and gave a little smirk as she discarded her cigarette. "Everyone eventually comes to know me, come on—let's go get Harry. He's going to need it."

Ginny followed behind the girl, confused as to how someone could know her name and undo magic with sheer strength like that. Sure the twine wasn't unbreakable but this girl was roughly her own size and didn't seem to be exceptionally strong looking or even athletic in any way.

"You called Harry my husband?"

"Don't worry about that yet—future's in flux, changes every time I check it. Do you always walk so slow?"

Ginny came to a stop and drew her wand. "We're not going anywhere until you tell me who you are…"

The girl stayed facing their destination as she spoke back at Ginny; sirens grew nearer in the background. "Lower your wand, witch. I assure you it will be of no use against with me," she said in an entirely different tone than the previous cheerful one.

"Who are you?"

"Someone that wand won't have any effect on, if I wanted you dead why would I have untied you?" she asked.

Ginny kept her wand trained on the girl for a moment before she finally lowered it and stepped back.

"Harry's going to need us to help him—those fire trucks will be here soon."

The girl led Ginny to the flames and a space parted automatically to let them through. Ginny passed between the rolled back curtains of fire first and the other girl followed. On the ground was a massive dragon, twitching and fluttering its last tortured breaths out and Harry was pulling his hand from the beast's chest.

Ginny stared in awe, rooted in place on the side of the massive body. Everything was silent; they were at the eye of the storm.

When Harry had worked his arm out of the creature's chest he sighed. "That was a right rubbish plan—won't be doing that again," he shook his head. "At least Ginny or Hermione's not here to reprimand me," he said breathing a sigh of relief.

"What the bloody Hell do you think you're doing?" Ginny yelled. "Where did this dragon come from?"

Harry turned to face Ginny with utter shock spreading over his face but his eyes settled on the dark haired girl in the long coat striding toward him. He was drenched in a thick sloppy layer of dragon's blood sweat. "You're the girl from the dream…the one who made me the deal…"

"Oh that's good, you remembered me," she said. "I really can't always tell who's going to retain that stuff and who's going to convince themselves it was a useless fantasy and let it slip away. But I told you, there was no deal."

"You're real—like I thought," Harry said.

"She's also utterly strong, she tore your bindings off with one hand," Ginny said.

"Of course I'm real," said the girl. "And it looks like you've had a busy morning," she said.

Harry winced and Ginny's attention was instantly turned back to him. She ran to his side. "You're hurt, let me take a look at it."

"Just a cracked rib or two, I'll be fine. Really, Ginny," Harry said clutching his bloody hand to his side. "I'm more worried about why this girl seems so familiar."

"We've met before, Harry. Actually we've plenty of times, kind of a long history we have," she winked in a slightly flirtatious manner that made Ginny's blood boil.

"I can't…where?" Harry's face was screwed up in concentration.

The girl folded her arms. "You first faced me when you were just an infant and Voldemort tried to end you—but you're special which is what made you my favorite little escapee," she said was with a devilish smile.

"I don't understand," Harry said.

"I'm the Angel of Death."

All of a sudden it made sense to Ginny. It was why she recognized her too, it was more an instinct than a real recollection of meeting. Then there was her eye color, it was exactly the same as the jet of color emitted by the _Avada Kedavra_, the Killing Curse. There even seemed to be a moving, shimmering mist the same as the one the spell had. It made Ginny shiver.

"There's such a thing as Angels?" asked Harry, looking to Ginny for support.

"I've heard of them, but I don't know," Ginny paused to think. "Wait if you're Death, how come you sound American?"

"How come you sound British?" Death asked. "I sound American because I was born in American, don't ask stupid questions—look I know it's hard to swallow, but you're going to have to believe in me because I'm the only one who bothered to come warn you…"

Harry stepped past Ginny slightly. "About the world, you said something was wrong with its bindings?"

Death nodded. "That's right, but not just the world. All of reality is fracturing and things that shouldn't be are slipping through those cracks," she said.

"Why are you telling me this though? I'm not special anymore—my part in this is over," Harry said.

A thin smile appeared across Death's face, the kind that could easily be seen in her eyes. Suddenly the looked even younger than before. "You let him think like this around you, Ginny?" she asked glancing over. "Harry, do you honestly believe that prophecy was all that made you special?" she asked.

He didn't answer and the sirens were right on the other side of the flames now.

"I see. Well if you need a reason—I took a liking to you. See I had a problem in Tom Riddle, he took every step he could to bind himself to this world and avoid me, you ended that and him and I've found a thousand different ways to make him pay for his crimes," she chuckled lightly.

Ginny shot Harry a nervous glance.

"We need to get this dragon out of here," Harry said, seemingly ignoring what Death said and glancing to the dead body in the center of the road.

With a snap of her fingers, Death banished the body. "Done," she said. "And now, for the proof that I kept my word about your friend," she said and with another snap, the three of them vanished.

* * *

A small room had been provided in which they could sleep, but the one thing that Lily Potter didn't feel was tired. In fact she couldn't remember having felt more rested than she currently did. Still she laid down on the cots given to her and James and cuddled up, they had pushed them together near the wall. She made a great effort to keep up her cheerful exterior but the world she had woken up to was already so different and she hadn't even gotten out into it.

In the moments of silence she relived the last moments that she had remembered from her previous life. James's scream downstairs and then her rushing to hide Harry away in the crib. Her heart pounded frantically each time the memories played over in her mind and she must have been visibly distraught because this time James clasped for her hand gently and pressed his body against hers.

"It's okay," he said kissing her on the side of the face.

"I'm fine, really."

"You're crying," he said softly.

"I was just wondering when they're going to let us see Harry, that's all."

James sat up. "I think they're wondering what we're doing back is all."

Snape's voice wafted through the door from the room across from them. "Wouldn't you wonder too? It would be the perfect con, to return to the world pretending to be some of the most celebrated heroes back from the dead…only to lie in wait until the time is right."

"Time is right for what, Snivellus," Sirius chimed in. "It's obvious that we're us—we just don't know why we're back and neither do they is all…"

The four of them had been separated into rooms somewhere in the Department of Mysteries. Sirius and Snape were across the hall in their own rooms and James and Lily shared one. They weren't exactly cells, the floor was plush carpet and there was a set of small chairs to sit in across from them. No windows or exits existed except for the heavy door at the front of the room.

"The fact of the matter is we're not safe to have wondering about, someone could recognize us and know we had been dead—then what?" asked Snape.

"I guess there is some point to that, then," James said.

Lily sighed. "I don't really have to get out, I just wish I could see Harry."

There was a knot of fear and anticipation in her chest. She couldn't wait to see Harry, this much was true but what could she say to him? What would he have to say to her? Would he even trust that she was his mother? Would he know her at all?

"What does Harry know about us?" she asked. "Me and James?"

"He was told of how James saved my life one time. He knew of what you looked like and through some of my memories he saw you as a young girl…" Snape said.

"I told him all that I could," Sirius said. "Admittedly it wasn't much, but he has some idea who you are and what kind of people you strived to be."

"That's all I ever wanted," James said.

"He looks just like you, too James—totally still has Lily's eyes," there was laughter in Sirius's voice now. "Remember when we bought him that little broom stick, you were so pissed Lily."

Lily snapped at him. "Babies shouldn't be zipping around before they can walk, Sirius!"

"He was a natural, he doesn't even remember it but that's probably where he got his start. Youngest Seeker at Hogwarts in a hundred years," Sirius chuckled. "Caught his first Snitch in his mouth…"

"And nearly died trying—I never did see why you Potters take that ruffian sport so seriously," Snape said.

Lily cracked a smile, to see the three of them together like this again it was like being back in school. "Sirius," she started. "Where was Lupin when you…passed?"

"Well let's see, he had just finished a year of teaching at Hogwarts. Actually taught Harry his third year and he was helping fend off the assault on the Ministry," said Sirius. "What happened to him after that, Snape?"

"He survived the fight, went on to marry Nymphadora Tonks…"

"Blimey, really?" Sirius said. "Good on him."

"Remus married! I'm so happy for him!" said Lily.

"Nymphadora was Andromeda's daughter, my cousin…" Sirius said. "Family disowned her for marrying a Muggle-born."

"Well, the girl went on to have a son just before the Battle at Hogwarts," said Snape.

James shook his head. "I knew the old dog had it in him. Who else was there?"

"Frank and Alice Longbottom?" asked Lily.

"They were driven insane by the Cruciatus Curse …" said Sirius.

"Their son helped to led a rebellion at Hogwarts, along with the Lovegood girl and Miss Weasley," Snape said.

"There are more Weasley's now," James said as he rubbed Lily's back, as if trying to comfort her because of the new of their friend's demise.

A voice came from down the hall. "You'd be surprised what would happen to Molly after a few too many glasses of Fire Whiskey…" it was Arthur Weasley.

Sirius stood up and walked to his cell door. "I spent twelve years of my life in a cell, locked away from the world. I don't want to spend my whole first day back in the same way."

"I'm about to escort you back up stairs and someone has been sent to gather Harry to bring him here," he said. "Harry's probably needed back here anyway…there's been an incident, my daughter sent me a Patronus…though I will have to confirm this with her when I see her...it seems Harry has killed a dragon in the middle of a crowded street."

* * *

One moment they were in the middle of the body laden street and the next Harry was standing with Ginny and Death at the foot of Hermione's bed while a nurse took blood pressure and her parents and Ron looked on. There was no sensation like with Apparation or Portkeys and the effect seemed instantaneous. Hermione lifted her head and stared straight at them. "Harry, Ginny you're here!" she said.

"She can't see me, none of them can—and they're going to think you walked in like normal," Death said.

"That's convenient," Harry said as he walked around to the side of the bed and touched Hermione's other arm. "How are you feeling?" he said softly.

"Fine, but who are you talking to? What's convenient?"

Ron's face was bandaged up. "Harry's been acting strange all day, then he just comes bursting in here late acting like I didn't go to get him over an hour ago…"

"Sorry, I'm late," Harry said.

Ginny nodded but remained quiet as she pointed to Harry's sleeve. He glanced down at his arm, which had been moments ago drenched in blood. It was clean and there was no signs of the battle that had taken place.

Death walked over to the window and propped herself up on the sill. "I'll make it where they can see me when the nurse steps out," she said.

Harry ignored her. "It's nice to see you again," he said to the Grangers.

Mister Granger smiled. "Hermione was insisting that we go to work, she claims it was nothing at all and we're not to be concerned at all…"

"Sounds like her," Ron said. "She's a brave woman," he added.

"It's nice to see she has friends like all of you looking for her," Missus Granger said.

Ginny laughed lightly. "She really doesn't need them, Ron and Harry would have died so many times without her it's not even funny," and when the Grangers laughed she added. "It sounds funny, but I'm serious, they're pretty useless," she smirked.

Obviously she could still see Death sitting on the window. When Harry would look away he'd expect her to have vanished next time but she sat unmoving and staring out at the city. The Grangers waited until the blood pressure test was done to bid farewell and head to work, the nurse was out just ahead of them.

When Death rose from the window and walked toward the bed, Hermione whipped her head around to look at her. "You're the nurse, the one from when I woke up…"

"Yeah, sorry about that if there was any discomfort, it can linger for a time after I'm done."

Ron looked to Harry and Ginny and then back to Death. "But Hermione…where did she come from?"

Hermione's face wrinkled in confusion. "I don't…I don't know…" she said. "But I saw them, when I woke up, I know you're not a nurse—you don't work here and you lied to Luna and Ron."

Death chuckled. "You always were the smart one…"

"I'd venture to say you're, well if I had to guess I'd say you're an Angel," Hermione said.

Ginny and Harry both froze in shock, wondering how she could have known that. Ron looked to be wondering if he could remember what Angel meant. Death whined and stomped her foot in a manner that reminded Harry of what he had see Ginny do as a young girl when her mother told her no.

"Did my damn wings give me away again? You were still near enough to death when you first woke up to see them, huh?" Death asked.

Hermione nodded coyly, her face reddening. "I figured it out when I was talking with Luna before she left. Oddly enough, Luna doesn't believe in Angels," she said addressing the still stunned Harry and Ginny.

"There's something Luna doesn't believe in, are you sure it wasn't someone using Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be her?" asked Ron. He turned to Death. "So you're one of these Angel people? I've heard the word before but I don't know what it means."

"It means different things to different people, though the general story is that the universe has a creator, though no one knows where he or she is and they've been missing a while now. Angels were created as warriors and messengers for this creator and well, there's some dissention in the ranks a war breaks out and two factions form. One faction was beaten and cast into Hell and the other stays in Heaven…this is all happened a long time ago. What you need to know is I'm the Angel of Death, though I'm not the original—I'm about number three in the line. Only been at this for a few years, before I found out what I was, I thought I was Human and that's why I took an interest in you Harry…"

"In me?"

She nodded.

"You're the same Death that created the Hallows?" asked Ron. "So you could make me one of those unbeatable wands?"

"I could, but I won't," she said. "One of those things floating around is enough and that was my predecessor."

Ron walked to the center of the room. "Well this is hard to swallow, all of this creator and war stuff, but it wouldn't be the first time that something big centered around us."

"So…Death…if I may ask why did you save me?" Hermione asked. "Was it not my time or…"

Death giggled. "Oh, I could have taken you right then, still could. Most people are utterly replaceable. But I needed Harry to trust me and letting his friend die before I came to him wasn't a good way to do that."

"So you were just manipulating him? That doesn't make any sense, you're Death you could just threaten to do something if you really needed to do that…" Ginny said.

"Calling me Death sounds so, formal—I prefer to go by Dee. And I really didn't want to see the you die. Not like that. You did help snare one of my most wanted."

"I'm not sure I get you," Ron said.

"Lord Voldemort. His Horcruxes were protecting him from the laws of life itself," Harry explained.

Dee nodded. "When you all destroyed them and killed him I had an idea. Since he liked severing his soul so much I tore it into tiny pieces and spread them into individually created, tiny Hells and he feels the suffering from all of them at once. What you did to Voldemort is nothing compared to what he will endure for eternity."

Ron snorted a short laugh. "Oh I like her."

Hermione laughed. "I guess I have competition then?"

In a suspiciously casual manner Dee went over to the window of the hospital, her dark curls seemingly darker in the light, and she opened it. "Now, on to what I came here to tell you. The whole of Creation is cracking and the fissures are producing some…awkward side effects. One of which I'm about to benefit." While she stood with the open window there came a flutter of wings and a snow white owl ducked down through the window and flew straight to Harry, landing at his shoulder and nipping playfully at his ear.

At first he wasn't sure what reaction to have, he stroked her side. "Hedwig? It's impossible?" he said.

"Normally it would be, but the cracks are letting things through and the rate at which they're coming has increased since I had to devote most of the power I could muster to holding those things house in Hell. But with holding Hell for sure, I made Heaven's barrier weaker and some of the dead are slipping through. That and the animals and people in this world are feeling on edge now, it's because of the cracks. And it won't be long before something far worse than a deceased soul from Heaven slips through, I came to warn you because I don't know what's causing it, but I've got a little invested in you," Dee said.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Ginny.

Dee smiled a sly smile. "Harry's got a destiny ahead of him, I'd like to see to it that this world doesn't rip itself apart before he gets that far along," she said.

Harry was still rubbing the small creature on his shoulder, unsure of how it could be possible that she would have just come back like that and sought him out like this. "I'm so glad to see you girl, you look exactly the same…"

"You can keep her, Harry," said Dee. "And you, you've got something not many get, a second chance and I left you a little surprise, don't say I never gave you something…"

"Thank you, I mean real…" Hermione was mid-sentence when there was a knock at the door and they all turned to look. When they turned back, Dee had vanished with a slight rush of wind.

"Is Mister Potter there? This is Marcus Saxon from the Ministry," came the voice from the door.

Harry walked over and pulled the door open. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure, I wasn't told but I was asked to come retrieve you and bring you with me back to the Ministry—they also asked to see a Miss Ginevra Weasley, that comes from your father," he addressed her.

Ginny turned to Hermione. "It looks like our visit's been cut short," she said.

"It's okay, I'll be out this afternoon," Hermione said.

"We'll see you then" Harry said and with that he and Ginny Disapparated.


	6. Chapter Five: Family Reunion

**Chapter Five: Family Reunion  
**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**Not much to say this time. Sorry for the brevity with this chapter. **_

* * *

From the moment he stepped out of the Floo into the English Ministry of Magic, Daunte Connors felt out of place. Robes hadn't been in style for years in the U.S. and much of the culture in regards to Wizards seemed to be more stilted in tradition and conservatism. It was instantaneous culture shock and while he had been ready for some adjustments he hadn't thought it would be anything drastic.

He followed the directions that he'd been given over the phone and made his way down to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. There were no computers or electricity and the only system for passing materials between places was an enchantment that made small memos fly around the halls like paper airplanes. Anything electronic had to be shielded from magic, but there were ways around that causing a problem and it cut down on the stress load on owls and the fear the Muggles would notice.

The windows in the lower levels of the Ministry were showing it to be raining outside, while he knew this was the case he was sure that these windows didn't actually lead outside. By now he was far below London. They must have been enchanted.

Following the twists and turns through the offices, he finally came to a small office door with the name he sought on it. _Administrative Attorney Hermione Granger_.

She'd sounded somewhat cute over the phone, he had to say that the accent was a huge plus. Though he had never seen the woman behind the name—though he knew her story. Part of him figured that anyone in the Magical World all over the world must have heard of Harry Potter and thus Hermione Granger.

Daunte knocked on the door lightly. There was no answer. "Miss Granger, its Agent Connors from the Auror's office in New York…"

"There you are." A wide eyed girl with an air of dottiness about her stared up at him through gray eyes, her faint eyebrows raised high into her forehead. "We've been looking all over for you," she added. The girl was dressed in an even more awkward fashion than the other members of the Ministry. Her unkempt white-blonde hair was accented by a pair of what appeared to be Golden Snitch hair clips on either side of the crown of her head. She wore a necklace that was made of British Muggle money and buttons and her nails were painted purple with stars over them.

She didn't sound like the woman he had talked to on the phone and he certainly couldn't believe this was _the _Hermione Granger. "Are you…Hermione Granger?" he asked.

"She's not," there was another girl coming toward him dressed in Muggle clothes with her dirty blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She smiled slightly bringing her hands to a rest on her hips. "My name's Hannah Abbot and this is Luna Lovegood—Hermione asked that we come here on her behalf because she's in the hospital."

Luna's vacant expression didn't fade as she spoke again. "She was attacked by a Dementor and bumped her head, though she's better now I doubt she'd want to rush back to work."

"I see. I hope Granger gave you the specifics."

"Oh yes. I'm something of a naturalist you see, she had me consulting on the case the whole time," said Luna.

"So you're the expert that she told me of?" he asked and Luna nodded. "Have you ever heard of it before…the thing we're talking about?"

There was an awkwardly long pause. "I suppose that the things you've told her of could be a lot of things. Did you check for _Wrackspurts_? They're always a possibility."

Hannah laughed.

"I've never even heard of them…" Daunte said

"That's this thing that Luna does, she will believe in practically _anything_," said Hannah.

"Well I'd like to get her take on this, the thing doesn't even look remotely like anything I've ever seen and its powers—mind control, like it whispers into the ears of anyone near it. We did our best to put up protections around it and they're keeping it at bay but when its transported here we're going to have to charter a plane because the risk of bringing it any other way is too great and the containment is too big for Floor," said Daunte.

Luna nodded. "When will it be here?" she asked.

"Later today or tomorrow, you can speak to it if you're up to it, but I was hoping it minimize the number of people that came into contact with the thing," Daunte explained.

"I assure you, I've come in contact with much worse," Luna said with sudden determination.

A smile appeared on Daunte's face. "You've never come into contact with this," he said. "I think as someone interested in nature you're going to wonder how something like this could even be possible."

"You said it talks?" asked Hannah.

"It can, but it really doesn't like to talk to us much. It spends most of its time pacing and to our knowledge it never sleeps."

"Did you ask it what it's called?" asked Luna.

Daunte nodded. "It never answers, it only says one thing. That's actually why I contacted Hermione Granger. The only thing it says is _Potter_."

"If that's the case, shouldn't we try to get it here sooner?" asked Hannah.

"It's too big for Apparation and I don't think you'd have any place in the entire Floo Network that had a fireplace big enough to encompass it," said Daunte.

Luna shrugged. "The Goblins use some giant blast furnaces… not much different than a fireplace for what you'd be suggesting doing," she said just before yawning.

* * *

Ron paced the side of the room impatiently, though there was nothing holding him back but his own reluctance and he needed to do something before the doctor returned with the discharge papers. In the panic of her near death and in the miraculous recovery handed to them by the Angel of Death there had been so much excitement but Ron didn't think that he had ever seen things so clearly before.

Maybe he had once before. He needed to organize his thoughts.

Hermione was sitting up in the bed watching the television. The program was just her style, it was something to do with outer space and science and she had been utterly glued to the set. Or so Ron had thought, when he chanced a glance over at her and found her doe-like eyes locked on him. Her smile grew. "You keep pacing like that and you're going to dig a trench in the floor," she said.

"Sorry," Ron said off handedly. The apology was hardly the appropriate answer but he was too deep in thought to consider it.

She tilted her head to one side. "What's got you wound so tight?"

"It's just…" Ron shook his head in frustration and sighed. "It's nothing."

"Ron you seem to have something big on your mind," when he passed close to her she snared his hand. "You want to talk about it?"

"I'm not sure how," Ron said.

Hermione dragged her fingers along the inside of his palm. "Maybe I could distract you from whatever it is, I mean you know this gown it doesn't even close in the back…"

"Really?" for a moment the corner of Ron's mouth rose in a smile. "No wait, I really need to concentrate," he said taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Okay…" she rubbed his lower back.

"Remember when you asked why it took so long for me to get Harry and your parents? I made a stop in between, just a quick one," he said.

"Not sure I understand. Where did you go?"

Ron rose and began to pace again. "I just went to Diagon Alley. I've been thinking about it for a while now and I just…you know you're the most important thing in my life, blimey, you are my life," he said.

"That's…I don't know what to say, Ron. That's sweet…"

"I mean I watch you holding Teddy Lupin and I see how much mum and Ginny and my brothers love you around and there's all we've been through—I can't imagine anyone who I would rather spend all of my time with and I look at you and see things I would be scared to face with anyone else and I just know we could do it, it feels like we can do anything now," Ron trailed off. "And I'm rambling."

Hermione's eyes were glistening with tears. "It's okay."

He made his way back toward her, fishing in the pocket of his pants and dropped down to one knee. The gesture elicited an instant reaction out of Hermione, she drew a deep breath and clasped her hand s eagerly in front of her face. "Hermione Jean Granger, will you do me the honor of giving me your hand in marriage?" he produced a shimmering ring in an open box.

"Ron, you prat, proposing to me in a place as _romantic_ as hospital," Hermione said though her voice was filled with joy and she was on the verge of tears.

"We…don't need anything fancy, it's just where you happened to be," he said. Hermione launched herself out of the bed and tackled Ron to the floor. "Careful! You might put me in this place," Ron cried out but she was already kissing him.

"Yes."

She only broke her kiss for a second to speak but Ron turned his head to respond. "Wait…yes?"

"Yes, Ron."

Ron chuckled nervously. And hugged her around the shoulders, half of her body was still dangling off the bed down into him. She laughed playfully and then offered her hand out to him. "Oh you want me to?" he asked and she nodded. Carefully, Ron took her by the wrist and slipped the ring over her finger.

Hermione examined it, twisting her hand to different angles as if to admire it in every possible light. "Oh Ron, it's beautiful. I can't wait to tell Harry and Ginny."

"I'm just glad it's you so I don't have to worry about mum shouting at me," he said with a smile.

* * *

Whatever was going on must have been huge. Harry was met at the door with a worker carrying a Portkey for him to use. It was supposed to carry him straight into the Department of Mysteries to a room which he wasn't sure that he had seen before. This Portkey was the discard cardboard from the center of a toilet paper roll. Harry wasn't quite sure if it was safe to touch when they reached out to hand it to him. "How long until it goes active?" he asked.

"Thirty seconds and then its live, sir," the worker replied.

"What about Ginny? Is there anything dangerous or secret down there?" Harry asked and Ginny shot him a warning look, he edged away from her.

"No, sir—to my knowledge there's no danger—but it's up to you if you want her to see it," he said.

Harry glanced to her at his side. "I trust, her," he said offering it out to her. Ginny clasped it tightly with one hand and with the other she reached for Harry's.

"Just in case," she said.

"You're not going far…" the voice of the ministry worker was cut off as Ginny and Harry were ripped away from the ground and sent whirling into the air at a tremendous speed. Instantly Harry thought of his first Portkey, when he had gone to the World Cup and how he had crashed to the ground without fail when it was finished.

This time Harry did substantially better. When they arrived he was clutching Ginny tight and they were both standing in the center of a large white room that didn't appear to have any source of light. Everything was polished and cleaned and _so bright_.

On instinct both he and Ginny pulled their wands. "Stay close," he said.

"Same goes for you," Ginny said as she turned her back to his. She froze, letting out an audible gasp as she tugged at Harry's sleeve. There was the sound of a door shutting and then her voice. "Harry…"

"Who's there?" Harry turned with his wand out and Ginny grabbed his arm.

"Harry look!" she said.

A familiar gruff drawl cried out. "Harry, my boy—you've gotten so big! Me thinks I detect a hint of stubble on that baby face of yours," Sirius Black strode up and enveloped Harry in a hug. A second later he pulled Ginny in and tussled her hair. "Is that little Ginny Weasley? Harry—you dog!" he socked Harry in the arm.

Ginny blushed fiercely but Harry could hardly hear Sirius because of what was going on behind him. Severus Snape was coming toward him flanked on either side by a James and Lily Potter that weren't much older than him, if they were older at all. His mother's expression held a kind of apprehension in it and his father looked to be on the edge of words that he couldn't express.

"Son…" James finally managed. Sirius stepped back and Ginny froze at Harry's side as he grasped for her hand and clutched it tight. He didn't even realize what he had done. "The last time I saw you—you were just a baby. I could hold you in one hand."

Harry could feel the tears welling in his eyes and he didn't try and fight it. His mother tackled him so that he was forced to let go of Ginny just to keep himself steady and not risk pulling all three of them down.

"Little Harry," she kissed him all over the middle of his face and he wondered if this was one of those moments when a normal child would have been embarrassed and told her to stop. "Since I got back—since we got back all we've done is think about you."

Now James Potter was hugging him too and Snape crossed the room the rest of the way. Oddly, he regarded Ginny first. "Miss Weasley, I'd like to apologize for the wrong doings you might have suffered your sixth year at the hands of the Carrows—I could only curb so many of the punishments without the Dark Lord's suspicions rising."

Ginny's eyes were locked on Harry and his parents while Snape talked to her. But she finally turned and threw her arms around Snape and hugged him. "Thank you for taking care of Harry while he was away, too," she whispered and the hug broke so quickly that only Sirius would have been able to have seen it. The middle of the room was filled with chatter and excitement as Harry was reunited with his family after all of these years.

James Potter turned and looked at Ginny. "You're the girl that I've been hearing so much about—youngest Weasley? Your dad told us a lot about you."

As Ginny made her way over to the group Mister Weasley poked his head through the door and gave her a thumbs up. Sirius clasped her back and brought her in closer to the group. "Hey, where is old Moony? He's missing all of this?"

"Professor Lupin's come back too?" asked Ginny.

"Come back? We were told he was married and had a son and fought in the war," Lily said. "Snape told us."

Harry lowered his head. "Professor Lupin was killed at the Battle of Hogwarts by Antonin Dolohov and his wife was killed by her aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Bless," Harry's mother let out a stifled cry.

There was silence for a while and finally Ginny spoke. "We lost a lot of people that day, even some of the school children. My mother is helping to care for Professor Lupin's son," she said.

Arthur Weasley pushed the door open and stepped in fully. "Kingsley Shacklebolt has decided to release you into the custody of Harry—since he is an Auror now. That goes for all of you, Snape, Sirius, James and Lily; please help Harry out Ginny."

Ginny nodded.

Harry looked around the room, his eyes still wide. "How…how is any of this possible?" he asked.

"We don't know, but your family and friends aren't the only ones experiencing it," Mister Weasley said. "Harry go on and take a few days off, you've got catching up to do and dinner to attend at the Burrow tonight."

"Yes sir," Harry smiled and then he chanced a glance at Ginny. The anxious confusion in her expression told him exactly what she was thinking of, he didn't even know how.

_Fred_.

* * *

The tunnels below the Gringotts must have housed more than just vaults so it was the ideal place to check for a furnace. Even if there wasn't one there, Hannah figured that with the high numbers of Goblins one had to know where a furnace of that magnitude was, if one indeed existed. From the entrance of the bank, Hannah led Luna and Daunte through to the high ceilinged lobby where lines of people waited in line for transactions.

Luna's eyes darted from place to place as if she had never been in the bank before. It wasn't that farfetched. When it came right down to it, Luna didn't trust a lot of establishments and businesses. Hannah didn't think it would be much of a leap to think that Luna didn't trust Gringotts or the Goblins that resided inside.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" a small gruff voice called out to them. "You look to be…out of place. What business do you have here?" asked a Goblin rather rudely.

"Auror business," said Daunte.

"Aurors don't have free reign here, I'm going to need to know what you're doing," said the Goblin.

Luna made a shocked sound as the small creature approached and she stooped down so that she was squatting in front of him. "Oh, hello there," she said finally. "We're not here to cause trouble—we just had a question. We're looking for a blast furnace…"

The Goblin chuckled. "Wizards looking to try their hand at Goblin skills, you'd be ill advised to try it!"

"No, we're not making anything—we need to use it to transport something through the Floo Network," Hannah explained.

"I've never really heard of anyone doing something of that nature, it would be a lot to ask for them to shut down production for this though," the Goblin said.

Hannah nodded. "We know it's a lot," she said. "But it's very important—what we're trying to do—we need to move something _very _large and we can't wait for it to be brought by Muggle travel methods," she explained.

"Maybe we could offer the owner of the furnace compensation for their time?" asked Daunte.

"As would be expected," said the Goblin. "Gringotts has no such thing housed within its walls, that I can say with certainty. But depending on how big you need it to be you could just build one yourself, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to think that with a few minds together you could conjure a nice sized furnace to bring whatever it is you want to wherever you place it."

Hannah looked at Luna and then Daunte. "Could it be done?" she asked.

"I'm not an expert at magic assemblies, but we could find someone in the Ministry, right?" Daunte said.

Hannah nodded. "Luna used to make those hats that moved all of the time, they were small scale but the transfiguration or whatever she used to make them work seemed pretty sound."

Luna removed her wand from behind her ear and looked it over. "I suppose we could try it."

"Thank you for your time," she said regarding the Goblin and he nodded and walked off. "We're going to need Hermione though, she's one of the smartest Witches I know," Hannah said.


	7. Chapter Six: Ordo Obscurum

**Chapter Six: Ordo Obscurum**

* * *

**Author's Note:**_** This one's at the end. **_

* * *

Knowing Harry Potter had meant that for the Weasley's, life was never that of just the average Wizard. Even from the first year they knew him, he'd dragged their family into some events that had literally become Wizarding History. Harry was himself, Wizarding History too. Though in all of those years there had never been a dinner that featured people who were supposed to be years dead.

Molly Weasley remembered a young James Potter from when she was finishing up at Hogwarts, she was a few years older than him as was Arthur. Still, even in their school days there was a Potter attracting attention at Hogwarts. When the war intensified and the fighting grew more taxing, Molly had a few more run ins with James and Lily Potter outside of school. The boy she had seen enter Hogwarts all of those years ago had grown.

When she heard he had died the idea of someone younger than herself, someone newly married and with a child, just dying had really set the fear in her like nothing else. She didn't know of a prophecy. She didn't know why it had happened or that Harry was supposed to be special. In her eyes, the deaths of the Potters was just one more proof of the cruelty of Voldemort.

Now she was sitting with them again and they hadn't aged a day. And not just them but Sirius Black and Severus Snape—men that she knew to be dead. Somehow she knew that Harry had to be to blame for this, the boy could really work some miracles.

Part of her wondered if anyone from her family that had died would turn back up.

"Would you like anything else…I can't believe that we're sitting here talking like this all over again," Molly said as she came around the table with a bowl of mashed potatoes and stopped next to Sirius.

He waved his hand. "God no, if I didn't know better Molly I would think you were trying to feed me till my heart burst and put me back in the grave," Sirius chuckled.

Lily's green eyes aimed up toward Molly across the table and in an instant she realized how ridiculously close to Harry's her eyes were. "Everything's so good Molly," she said. "Thanks for having us."

"Yes. There are not many who would invite the living dead to sit at their table for dinner," Snape said.

"Ron and Hermione really should be here," Harry said. "I really want you to meet them," he regarded his parents. "Hermione seemed to remind everyone of you…Mum," Harry still said the words like they were new, like they weren't meant for him. Molly found it heart breaking.

"You're letting those two off on their own without leashes now?" Sirius said. "What happened?"

"They've been seeing each other," Ginny said. "Since the end of the war—I never really got Ron to tell me how it happened."

Harry laughed. "I guess I know because I witnessed it. Basically Ron took up for House Elves rights and Hermione was so excited she jumped him, it's a good thing I was there to stop it from going further."

There were chuckles all around the table before Molly sighed. "Now Harry, I don't think Hermione would have done anything unladylike."

"Course not," said George. "She couldn't let Ron have too much fun. She keeps him on a tight leash really."

As the night wore on, more of the Weasleys were forced to head back to their own homes. They had tried to wait for Ron and Hermione but there was no word from them and no sign they were coming. Molly went out to check the hands on the old clock in the living room and both of their hands were pointed to _Home_. She took that to mean one of their homes.

* * *

Arthur Weasley had left an hour previously because he had work in the morning. When Molly finally climbed out of her chair to go to bed Sirius was trying to goad Snape into drinking with them. "Come on, you can have a few you greasy git!" Sirius shouted perhaps too loudly.

"I don't really drink much," Snape said.

"Come on, are we going to have to check your knickers or are you going to man up an show us what you're made of!" Sirius said.

James laughed. Ginny and Lily looked slightly indignant. "What is with men and trying to prove the existence of their genitals?" asked Ginny.

Lily shrugged. "No idea, I never found the things all that appealing looking in the first place…" she said with a stifled laugh.

"Mum!"

"Sorry, Harry," Ginny and Lily said in unison.

Harry slapped his hand down on the table. "I guess it's okay, I don't think Ron and Hermione are going to show up, though," he said.

"I don't know why they wouldn't contact anyone for this long," Ginny said.

"Tomorrow," Sirius said. "We can see them then."

James sighed. "Yeah, we wouldn't want them to see your mother in this state," he poked Lily in the side and she giggled loudly.

"Potter, it is getting late—where would we all be sleeping?" asked Snape.

"I guess at Grimmauld Place—I cleaned it up a lot and its pretty respectable looking again," Harry said, he slurred the word respectable badly and Ginny nudged him in the ribs.

"We cleaned it up," she corrected him.

Lily pinched her cheek. "Oh I like you," she said. "You keep Harry in line."

"I'm not out of the lines—whatever they may be," Harry said.

"I think we're all too drunk to be of much more use tonight," James said. "We might need to pack it in and stop disturbing these lovely people," he waves his hand up as if to acknowledge the Weasleys.

Ginny scoffed. "I'm sure my parents miss the noise," she said as she took a large gulp of Firewhiskey.

Sirius pointed. "See that…that right there, lass knows how to handle her Firewhiskey, that's sexy," he elbowed Snape. "That's we need to find, ones who drink like that…hey Lily when are you going to show us how to pick up the Muggle birds?"

Snape sniffed a shot of some unknown liquor and downed it. "I think I'm going to need this just to take the edge of Black's breath," he said.

"That's the way! See I knew you had it in you!" Sirius said as he flopped his limbs about.

There was a chorus of laughter from everyone at the table, including Snape. Ginny's head came to a rest on Harry's shoulder and she glanced up at him with her big brown eyes. "Harry, will you Apparate me home?" she asked.

Harry glanced around at the others at the table. "We still need to be cautious, I don't want you being alone for too long because…well because of what happened to Hermione."

"Fair doos."

"Come to Grimmuald place and stay there with us?" asked Harry.

"You're going to have to take me to my place anyway to get some clothes and things," she said. "I'm not going to just come stay with others without at least grabbing some of my things, Harry, you're being silly if you think I want you to see me in the same shirt day in and day out or something like that," she was rambling.

Harry pushed up away from the table. "Then that's what we'll do," he chuckled. He offered her his hand and helped her up from the table. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, I guess we'll see everyone back at Grimmuald Place," said Harry.

"See you soon, Harry."

"You can borrow some of my old clothes if they're around, James," Sirius said.

"It was nice meeting all of you," Ginny said as she gave a lopsided wave of her hand and with that the two of them twisted in place and Disapparated.

_CRACK!_

The pair reappeared in the darkness of Ginny's flat in London. Harry bumped her table and stumbled into her, almost causing both of them to fall to the ground. Harry caught hold of the arm of the couch before they could tumble over. "Sorry," he said.

"It's fine, really," Ginny chuckled. "I guess you're a little too drunk for Apparation, too?"

"We should really use the Floo next time," Harry said.

Ginny stumbled away from him and headed for her bedroom and he realized very suddenly that they were alone for the second time in as many days. They just hadn't been alone like this in so long and he didn't know what to make of it. He watched as the bits of light leaking in through the window etched the hard curves of her figure into the air. She didn't bother to turn on a light until she was in her bedroom.

Dumbfounded, Harry stood there as she moved around inside of the room gathering things. Something told him it was in his best interest to stay out of that room and just wait for her to be done. For several minutes she moved around inside of the room, stumbling slightly here and there but Harry was too scared of what might happen if he crossed that threshold—in more ways than one.

"Harry, which dress was it you said you liked?" she asked. Her voice sounded more slurred than ever and Harry couldn't even remember what she might have looked like dressed in his head right now.

"Harry?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," he said as he grasped the couch and moved his hand up the arm to the doorframe to steady himself. He stepped through the door and collided with Ginny just as she turned to walk back out and before he could catch himself or her they tumbled into her bedside chair with him pinning her down and his face pressed into her neck.

They both erupted into laughter. "Sorry again," Harry said.

"It's quite alright," she was running her fingers up and down his shoulder blade and he could feel the tips of her nails through his clothes, they were like electricity on his back.

He pushed up and stared down at her and a smile overtook his face as he noticed his own reflection in her eyes. "I can me in your eyes," Harry said in a low voice like it was a secret only they should hear.

For a moment everything was still, neither of them moved as their gazes remained locked together. Then Ginny squirmed beneath him, lifting her weight against his and bringing her lips up to meet his with a force and hunger that rivaled that of their last kiss. Their lips parted and Ginny pulled back until he could gazes met again. "I can see you in my bed," she said.

That was all it took.

Harry pulled her up from the chair dropped her back into the bed, he was still slightly disoriented and very inebriated. Part of him was screaming in the back of his head as each action occurred. _Ginny Weasley's undressing you. Now she's practically naked herself. _

Once it started, there was only one outcome and it was as Harry feared when he was standing at the door. He couldn't just back down and leave her there because on some raw level he had missed the closeness with her emotionally and physically. There didn't seem to be a difference between the two at the present time.

He pushed her further back onto the bed as she fumbled with the clasp of her bra, she furrowed her brow and bit down on her lip slightly in frustration as she worked at it. Though Harry knew that she was struggling with it, something in her facial expression and demeanor looked so seductive that the second the lacey garment was dropped onto the bed he was on her. In the feverish fit of kissing and touching and rough motions she draws herself up against the leg of his boxers and draws him down into her.

Harry's eyes blurred from the drunkenness and his skin stinging in the chilled night air, he looked down at her and the last thoughts of regret melted away. For the first time in years he felt like he had gained something. In one day he would get everything near and dear he'd lost back.

Perhaps his staring went on too long. "Harry…" Ginny said in a small voice, he wasn't used to her sounding so subdued and yet somehow she seemed more than sure. "Harry…it's okay," she said, her brown eyes searched his face in the dim light.

For all of the build up and waiting it didn't last long and when the tinge of pain had passed from her face and it was over Harry could have sworn she was glowing pale blue. Her freckles and the red marks where he gripped her arms more apparent now.

"I'm…sorry Ginny…" Harry said. "I shouldn't have stayed away so long," he said out of breath.

"It's okay," she turned to the side and looked toward the window. "Harry look!"

Harry rolled his weight off of her to look. A shimmering blue mare stood by the bedside—_the glow on Ginny's body_. "Did you cast your Patronus wandless?" he asked.

She shook her head vigorously. "It's mum's," she said.

"The Burrow's attacked…no time…we don't know who…" it was Molly Weasley's worried voice.

Harry clambered over Ginny for his pants and tumbled to the floor. "You've got to stay here Ginny, I have to go. This is my fault…"

"The Hell I do. I'm going," she said as she slipped back into the bra.

"It's too dangerous, really. They're looking for you," he said. "I know it."

"They're my family…"

"Mine is probably still there too." Harry didn't think that he could have dressed any faster if Molly had burst in to deliver the news herself. _Please don't let anyone be hurt. Please._ "Come with me then, stay close," Harry said.

* * *

The attack had come just as they were preparing to use the Floo. They were everywhere. Men on brooms flipping and diving around the Burrow in loops and spirals and flinging curses as they did. James hadn't wasted time. "I need a broom!" he shouted.

It must have been instinct, when they had died there was a war going on, even though some of them had died over a decade apart. Molly and Arthur were down the stairs seconds later with their wands drawn. The whole house rocked again and wide eyed Molly stared from Lily to Snape. "Who is it? What's happening?"

"I'd claim Death Eaters but that would seem not to be possible," Snape said. "Get word to Potter and Miss Weasley."

Arthur tossed a broom to James as Molly sent her Patronus. "Here, it was all I could find!"

"It'll do, we're going to need to fend them off until we can pick them off one by one." James said.

"Aye, we'll be in the air right behind you," Sirius said as he examined a broom that was handed to him.

The amplified voice of someone using a Sonorus Charm echoed through the Burrow. "This is in retaliation for the deaths of our kin at the hands of Harry Potter! Send him out and no one gets hurt!"

"What are they talking about?" asked James.

The curses and commotion stopped for a moment and everyone stood in silence. "It's to be figured that some enemies were made with the Dark Lord's destruction," Snape said.

"We're giving you five minutes to comply!" the voice boomed through the house again.

"They've set up an Anti-Apparation field," said Arthur.

Lily pointed to the fireplace. "They even caved the fireplace in so there's no chance to access the Floo…we've got to fight."

"It can't be," gasped Molly from the window.

"What is it?" Arthur asked as he and Snape pushed toward the window next to her.

* * *

With the Floo down and Apparation blocked off Harry and Ginny were left to use an illegal Portkey to reach the Burrow. Harry had made them a few times, but usually Hermione had to help him as the targeting was somewhat tricky. The two of them spun into being atop a hill overlooking the field that led to the Burrow.

"Shit," Harry said.

"How?" Ginny grasped his sleeve as her eyes widened in fear. In the sky above the burrow the eerie green glow of the Dark Mark was etched into the clouds. The spectral image of a twisted snake protruding from the mouth of a skull hung in the air. As the implication of the symbol sunk in, Ginny's grip on his arm tightened until she tore away through the darkness and into the fields of crops that separated them from the house.

"Ginny wait!"

There was a great booming voice that Harry couldn't make out over the sound of the leaves of corn brushing past his body and the wind tearing through the tall crop stalks. He pushed himself harder, running headlong toward the house—toward where Ginny had to be headed. She was in great shape, somewhere far out head of him he heard her frantic cry.

"Mum! Dad!"

Harry ran until the blood thundered through his veins and his vision trembled. The last remnants of his inebriation burning off in the panic. _If they've hurt them…if they hurt Ginny…_

His wand was clutched tight and he reached the edge of one field and checked his bearings. There was smoke coming from the sides of the Burrow and dark shapes were circling the house on brooms. The shimmer of the Anti-Apparation field hung in the air around the house. He searched the field ahead of himself for light from Ginny's wand or any sign she was near but there was none.

There was no time to scream her name, he didn't have the energy to waste and just to stop take that breath could have been disastrous. He hit the edge of the small river that ran along the Burrow's Quidditch Pitch and didn't even bother to step over the water.

"Two minutes! Bring us Potter or everyone inside dies!" a booming voice filled the air around him and made him shudder. The voice was one he didn't recognize but the dark tone carried good news. _They were still alive._

All at once there was a flutter of activity ahead and he spotted Ginny making a break for the door. One of the broom riders above dove down behind her and swung his wand and the familiar incantation seemed to echo forever. _"Avada Kedavra!"_ all other sound was drained from the air as Harry froze in view of the door to the Burrow. Ginny lay face down in the threshold of the house and unmoving.

He turned on the man on the broom cutting him down with a silent curse and causing him to drop onto his back in the grass. His body felt too hot and too cold at the same time and all that he kept seeing in his mind was Ginny's face. _This was his fault, all of this._

Another broomstick carrying the form of someone in a cloak swooped down from his side and with a flick of his wand Harry transfigured a wall out of the earth, there was nothing the broom rider could do as he smacked full force into the wall and flattened out. Around him the ground came alive, his mother and father were slinging hexes and curses at his sides and Molly and Snape had covered the other flank. There were too many of them, Death Eaters—who ever these were.

But they were dropping at an alarming rate and the Potters and Weaselys along with Sirius and Snape fought like there was nothing left to lose. It was like Armageddon for a brief few moments. James took to the air on his broomstick and pursued one of them, dodging curses by swinging side to side in the air and even rolling upside down. He bought the assailant down with a bludgeoning spell to the back of the neck.

Sirius was behind James and they cut a swath through the men in the sky and Snape and Molly were working their way through the men that landed. Harry pushed away from his mother to deflect a curse. "Does it take all of this to get me!" he yelled. "Cowards! Come down here and face me!" his voice was hoarse as he screamed the incantation for his next spell.

One of them was rushing toward him and flung a killing curse through the grass and he deflected it with a disarming spell. A beam, like arcing, wild lightning, extended from his wand locked to the wand of the other caster. In the connection between the two wands, where the opposing spells met, there was a glowing slime like plasma sputtering down out of the beams. Straightening his free hand, Harry popped the spare wand he kept inside his shirt down into his grasp. With the beams still locked he slung stunner overhead and hit the man in the chest. Before he could fall his own killing curse and the disarm slammed into him ending his life.

Harry let out a sound that was like a growl as he disregarded Molly's cries and the silence of everyone else. All of the attackers were dead or disabled now and he could see the first man he had it moving against the ground—the same man that had killed Ginny. In his blind rage he aimed the two wands he carried at the man. "You want to run already? I'm not through with you. Turn around and face me!"

The man struggled against the ground.

"_Imperio!"_ Harry shouted and the man rolled over to face him. The second Harry could see his eyes he took aim with the other wand and a blinding red flash was emitted from it. _"Crucio!"_ the man writhed against the ground shouting in bone splitting pain. He twisted and contorted so violently that he dislodged his arm from socket in the movement and his torment continued. "You murdered Ginny! Who sent you here?" acknowledging it made it worse, the tears were running fully down his cheeks.

"Harry!" Sirius said.

"Who sent you?" Harry asked and the torture continued.

"Sweetheart, she's alive…" Lily grabbed him around the shoulders and he didn't lower the two wands as his gaze shifted to where Ginny stirred near the door. Molly was already by her daughter's side and by the time Harry reached them she was mopping the blood away from Ginny's cheek and muttering a soft healing incantation. Bits of exploded wood and brick had peppered the side of her freckled cheek and Harry could see now where the spell had caught the door's archway near her head.

Harry stooped down and touched the side of Ginny's face with the back of his hand. "You're going to be fine, we'll get you help soon," Harry said.

"I don't think that's a wise choice to make," Snape's voice came from somewhere behind Harry and he turned in time to see Snape extending his wand out at the man Harry had been torturing on the ground. He was making a move for his wand. _"Expelliarmus!" _there was a flash of blue and the wand shot out of the man's hand. Snape smirked down at him. "Now who sent you? Or do you want me to turn Potter loose on you again?"

"Don't talk about him that way," Lily said.

But Snape smiled at Harry, not in a cruel or jesting way, but as if he were somewhat proud. He glanced back to the man on the ground. "Who sent you? If you haven't noticed—the Dark Lord is dead…any remnants of his would be best off going into hiding and acting as if the war never happened lest they end up incarcerated."

"Voldemort? That bastard never appealed to us…he was nothing. I suppose you think because of the mark in the sky that we're his?" asked the man in a raspy voice. He spit out blood.

"Yes. The Dark Mark was a creation of Voldemort to invoke fear and…"

"The Dark Mark was a spell he stole from some old grimoire somewhere. The Dark Mark belongs to _us_! _Ordo Obscurum_! It is our symbol!" he said proudly.

Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "_Ordo Obscurum?_ There is no such thing, a secret society that large, old and powerful would leave signs somewhere."

"Is my presence not sign enough?"

"What's the _Ordo Obscurum?_" asked Harry as he walked to Snape's side.

"A secret order said to be founded on the principal they serve some sort of demonic prince and are aiding him in regaining his place in the world; it's a scary story to make children fear the unknown or a group that drunkards can blame for fixing the outcome of Quidditch matches…" Snape said. "They're not real."

"He seems to think they are," Harry said.

Lily glanced at Snape and then to Harry. "I'm going to go and help get some place ready for Ginny to lay down. As she went to help Molly carry Ginny into the house Arthur watched from by the door. There was a silence between Sirius, James, and Snape for a second as if they knew what Harry was about to ask.

"We need to brew a potion," Snape started, "I need to question this man further."

"Snape?" Harry started, "Why did you look at me like that…when my mum said to stop?"

"Because, I never got to get any of the bastards back for what they did to the woman I love," he said as he swept past Harry, James and Sirius. Without being asked the three of them restrained the man and dragged him back into the house.

Harry eyed his father, knowing the weight of Snape's statement wasn't lost on him. "I'm going to have to get in touch with the Minister, he's going to need to know what happened here," Harry said to change the subject. "We need to reach Ron and Hermione too…"

"If you need to go we can stay and watch Ginny," said James.

"No, I'm not leaving her side, I can just send a Patronus," said Harry. The prisoner was deposited into a chair near the front door and restrained with ropes and Harry went over to the couch where Ginny lay still unconscious. "I'm so sorry, Ginny," he kissed the side of her face. "This is why I didn't want to bring you into this mess."

"The potion will take hours to brew…and I've been drinking it might not be a good idea," Snape said.

What Snape said floated around in Harry's head…except he had all these people he loved…all of these people being put in danger. And now there was talk of demons again, with this revelation hot on the heels of the talk of Angels it was too much to ignore. "There's no time, Snape. I'm going to Imperius this bastard and you're going to make the unbreakable vow with him, if he lies, he dies. I'm done playing games with the lives of my loved ones," his eyes flicked to Ginny's form on the couch.

"Harry, are you sure?" asked Arthur.

"I care about all of you too much to risk you on the life of this garbage. I hate to think what would have happened if I lost Ginny and suddenly I have all of you back after so much was taken from me," he aimed his wand at the prisoners head. "This isn't selfish; this is what needs to be done."

* * *

**Authors Note: **_**A small disclaimer, the lines "I can see me in your eyes/I can see you in my bed" are from the song by the Strokes **__**I'll Try Anything Once**__**. Its close to my heart, check it out. I just had to include it in that scene but I don't want to steal from a good band. I'm still looking for a beta and I'm slowly working my way through this story as you can see. Hope everyone is enjoying the ride. **_


	8. Chapter Seven: Hallowed Ground

**Chapter Seven: Hallowed Ground**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**Well the reviewer You Know Who actually guessed at who would be making a reappearance in this, I added this little part at the start just to say that to them and I kind of wish I knew who it was. Thanks for all of the reviews and views guys. **_

* * *

No one would have suspected he would bring her here and right now that was what Ron wanted most. Maybe it wasn't the most romantic place in the world and at the time they'd first laid eyes on it there definitely hadn't been the idea of any such thing in the air. But it was the most beautiful place that he could remember from their months in hiding from Voldemort's regime in the Ministry.

Preserved in time for—he didn't know how long—there was small church that had been overcome by the forest. They had spent several days camped under what remained of the old structure to avoid a terrible storm. The location was one of the many unplanned ones on their trip. It wasn't a place from Hermione's past, like most, but just the result of picking a blank spot on the map and Apparating in.

The building was stone, parts of the roof had long since caved in and tonight the moon was slipping down through the cracks to light the mossy floor. The benches, the altar, everything inside was made of rock and despite the apparent age it seemed that with a short clean up job and new roof one could renovate the entire place.

"Open your eyes," he said as he circled around to face her with his wand held up for light. As she did, Ron spoke again in a low tone. "I've thought about this place a lot since we first came here—I don't know what Muggles do in churches or whatever you called it, but this place made me want to find out."

Hermione smiled. "That's the right word."

"Huh."

"Church, that's the correct word," she said as she turned to run her hand over the moss covered back of a pew. "You know, a lot of Muggles get married in them…churches I mean."

"Really?"

"Yes really, we could…if you cared for it."

"I think I'd like that," Ron said.

Hermione took a few steps forward. "I can't believe you remembered it."

He nodded and pointed to a spot where another block of stone was leaning up against a pew at a low angle. "Over there, that's where you were sleeping in between bouts of looking over _Beetle the Bard_ and every other book you could get your hand on that you thought might have a clue," he chuckled. "And Harry and I set the wireless up…" he turned to acknowledge another spot not too far off against the edge of the altar, "…right there."

"It was so dark that week—I don't think we saw the sun for days," she smiled, her cheeks reddened and Ron was sure he knew what she was thinking. _Maybe if more people had known the end result of a proposal was several rounds of sex they would be more enthused about trying it. _

Ron touched slipped a finger through the belt-loop of Hermione's jeans and tugged her to his side to kiss her on the neck. "I don't know what I thought back then…I knew we'd make it somewhere deep down, but I'm glad we're here right now…" another kiss, "…no matter how dark it got, we were going to make it."

She laced her fingers through his and dropped her head onto his shoulder. "Maybe I should nearly die more often…if it gets you to be this…_sensitive_."

"Don't joke about that," Ron said despite his smile.

"You worry over me too much," she turned to face him. "You're a worry-wart," she said as she closed the already miniscule gap between them and pushed herself up onto her toes to kiss his face.

He pressed himself into one of the pews and drew her up onto his lap. "Stop saying that!" in a mocking sort of tormented tone.

"Look at you; you're probably worrying over me right now. I always know what you're thinking you know, you're so easy to read," Hermione said as she tilted her head to the side as if to study him.

"Oh yeah? What am I thinking right now?" he kissed her again, with more force and his hand wrapped under her chin. When they parted he traced small circles on her cheek with his thumb.

"Ron! Again?"

"I know what you're both thinking and _I'm thinking _that you shouldn't try and fuck on holy ground." A familiar voice broke the air and caused both Ron and Hermione to scream in shock and turn to face the source of the sound. Dee sat, crossed-legged, atop a huge statue of a cross flanked on either side by two stone Angels genuflecting up at her. She leaned out and cried, "Boo!" and burst into boisterous laughter.

Hermione clasped her chest as she caught her breath. "What are you doing here? How did you find us?"

"I'm the Angel of Death, what do you mean how did I find you? If it's got a soul and is remotely mortal in the corporeal sense, I can sniff it out," she said.

"It's a little rude, don't you think?" Ron said.

Dee laughed again and produced a single cigarette from her pocket. "You know you were about to have sex in a church right? I don't care how long it's been out of use, it's still hallowed ground," she said as she slipped the cigarette into her mouth and lit it. "I could probably go all Old Testament on you, smite you both for this, if I had a mind to."

"If it's so hallowed in here, why are you smoking?" Hermione asked.

"No one's going to drop out of the blue and smite me. Plus I'm an addict, I get cranky if I don't smoke," Dee shrugged. "Sorry, _love_. I don't make the rules, but I do know which ones I can break and get away with."

"You came to warn us not to have sex in churches?" asked Ron.

Dee shook her head so that the curls slapped against the sides of her chubby cheeks. "I just happened to get here in time to catch the latest showing of your premarital display…" she smirked. Ron swallowed hard and wondered suddenly if she could tell what they had been doing before. "Before you get too comfortable thinking I don't know—I do. Sex between loved ones makes the soul get all tangled up…there's kind of a residue left over from the opposing soul for a while after, if you will," she motioned with one hand in the air nonchalantly.

Hermione turned away as her face turned a bright pink.

"I came to give you these," Dee fished in her coat pocket and tossed two objects onto the ground near the pew. "I flitted back in time to get them. The two from your time…well let's just say they were abused."

Ron and Hermione shifted apart to see what she had tossed but it was too dark and Ron had to bring his wand closer.

"_Someone_ turned one into a horcrux and it got nearly cleaved in half, then y'all threw it in the damn forest somewhere—needless to say I wasn't going to look for that. The other is well, let's just say I'm not into grave robbing…"

Ron's hand closed around something slender, wooden and ancient. "The Elder Wand?"

"This is the Resurrection Stone," Hermione said examining a jet black, shiny orb.

"Tell your good friend Harry that next time someone gives him weapons of great power he shouldn't just fling them around willy-nilly," Dee said.

"But why are you giving them to us?" asked Ron. "These are Harry's."

"He found them all, reunited them, whatever. But they were meant for the two of you, these two were anyway. Ron's headstrong enough to wield the Elder Wand, it chose him and only someone as prematurely wise as Hermione here could use the Resurrection Stone."

"We're meant to share them?" Ron said.

Dee jumped down from her perch and snubbed her cigarette out in her palm without wincing. "All that power divided between three people who worked to earn it and suffered to get there…"

"Why do I get the feeling she's getting ready to send us on some bloody task?" asked Ron shooting sideways glance at Hermione.

"You know you'd love it, the old _Golden Trio_ back together again. Would be fun right?" Dee said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I know you saved me and all, and thanks for that, but I'm starting to think maybe you're just some nutter that has a great deal of…power?" before she could finish her statement, Dee vanished from right in front of her. The pair of them were standing alone in the dark ruins of the church with the smell of roasted tobacco wafting in the air around them.

"We need to find Harry and Ginny…tell them what happened…" Ron said, Hermione nodded in agreement and they Disapparated.

* * *

When Luna proclaimed that she was going to construct the furnace herself, Daunte thought to himself that she was crazy but when he stood before the structure that she had thrown together some hours later he couldn't help but admit that she was much more competent than he'd given her credit for. He and Hannah had helped and when it became apparent that Hermione wasn't going to be contacted they went ahead and put the finishing touches on the huge enclosure that acted like an oven.

It was massive, to the point that Luna had to levitate herself up onto the top to inspect it. There was nothing fancy about it, of course there was no need for that. The furnace needed to take an immense burst of heat for a short time and by the time the fire went out their package would be delivered.

"Is this about the right size?" asked Hannah.

Daunte examined it again. "More or less," he didn't have the exact measurements of the creature but he had a good eye for these kinds of things. He was secure in the notion it would fit. "Think it will hold?" he asked.

Luna nodded. "Even if the heat destroys it, the thing we're transferring will still get here before it even matters. All that's left now is to get some Floo Powder and start the fire," she said.

"And we need somewhere on the other end to transfer it from," Daunte said as he scratched at his head. He couldn't believe, even having watched it, that they had constructed this thing so quickly.

"They can handle that on the other end, right?" Hannah asked.

"Should be alright," Daunte said as he craned his neck back to look the huge furnace over. They'd constructed it in the Ministry in a room specially made to house Dragons when there was a need to bring one into the building. The room was deep enough in the building to keep anyone out of harm's way and large enough to encompass most any beast that walked on land.

Luna watched him closely. "What time is it in America?" she asked.

"Late evening right now, basically dinner time—guess that explains why I'm so damn hungry," he said with a smile.

"I'm just tired," Hannah said. "The rest of this might have to wait till morning, we'd have to have the customs office here to complete it anyway."

Daunte shrugged. "I can make a phone call and tell them to start construction on that end and draw up the papers," he said.

"We could go to this Muggle place that Hermione taught me about, its open all night so there would be no problem on that end," Luna said.

"I'm going to have to head home and get some rest, I'll pass Luna," said Hannah.

"Don't know the first thing about London, so I guess I can go for it."

Luna clasped her hands in front of her. "You're going to love this place, it's _almost_ like magic," she said in a lofty tone. "It's called McDonalds."

A smile spread over Daunte's face. "I think I know the place, but we can go anyway." Part of him wasn't sure it was a good idea to go out on an escapade with the girl, it was late and there was the business of transporting a creature that he had no doubt was extremely dangerous. Even with his years of service to the Auror's it scared him to think that something so huge and unknown could just appear like this thing had.

They made their way back up through the Ministry after a short check back over the work they had done. Luna sighed inwardly as they walked. "For what we're needing to do we might have to make a trip into Diagon Alley," she said.

"What's that?"

"Where most of the Wizarding Stores are in London, it's very congested, so prepare yourself," she said.

He still wasn't sure what to make of the young witch, she was a few years his junior and very awkward but then as he had seen already, she was extremely capable. "Congested, I think after being in New York all of this time, I'll manage," he smiled.

Luna smiled back sweetly and grasped his hand. "Come on, this way—no need to use the Floo, we can come out near the London Eye," she said.

Her fingers coiled around his took him slightly by surprise, it wasn't something that was common that he knew of and the sensation of a tiny hand gripping his reminded him vaguely of his younger sister. As she moved out in front of him and continued out toward the atrium she tucked her wand back behind her ear. Hannah was at his side but she remained quiet for most of the walk.

"She always like this?" asked Daunte chuckling.

Hannah just nodded, the weight of sleep had her eyelids at half mast.

When the bid her farewell and it was just the two of them Luna spoke again, this time more directly and with an aloof, innocent tone of voice. "Are there many black Wizards left in America? I would have thought they all would leave with how mean people supposedly are there."

The question sent him reeling, his race in the Wizarding Community had almost never mattered, he was a Pure-Blood which wasn't as important as it was in Britain but it was rarer still in the States and something that seemed to have him held in some high regard. "There's a lot, depends on where you are?" he couldn't have gotten angry with her if he tried. There was nothing offensive in her tone, it was an inquiry made out of curiosity and nothing else.

"I read a Muggle book once about racism and it talked about how terrible things used to be. It's hard to believe how similar the Wizard and Muggle worlds are," Luna said.

"What do you mean?"

"You-Know…" she paused as if she caught herself, "Voldemort worked from a foundation of racism and hatred and there are all these instances of the same happening with Muggles, in America…in Africa…in the Middle East and even here at some points," Luna said.

"Do you read a lot of Muggle books?"

"Not really," she said. "Hermione sometimes had them or she would be reading them and I would wonder what they went on about, you know?"

He nodded. "Let me ask you something, stop me if goes too far," he became suddenly aware of the fact that his hand was still clasped in hers.

"Ask anything."

"Did you ever have a time when you cared about blood purity?"

Immediately Luna nodded. "I cared about enough to know that it wasn't what mattered, it has little to do with the kind of person one turns out to be or even the kind of Wizard or Witch," she said.

The answer seemed somewhat roundabout but he figured that he had an idea what she was saying.

"When we stood against Voldemort and the other blood purists it was clear that we cared as much about _purity _as them, but our care wasn't the misplaced kind that birthed hatred—everyone should appreciate lineage and be proud of where they come from, no one should be made to feel shameful for it," she said.

Daunte pried his hand out of hers and threw his arm around her shoulders. "I wasn't sure at first, but I think we're going to be cool," he said.

* * *

**Short chapter and all, next one should be longer!**


	9. Chapter Eight: The Wandless Man

**Chapter Eight: The Wandless Man**

* * *

**Author's Notes**_**: Any spell that seem made up and unfamiliar probably are!**_

_**You Know Who: You seem to be reading my mind, somewhat at least. Dee is a Nephilim, its not really meant to be a surprise but she's dropped a hint at least once (saying she was American). I guess at some point I might have her spell it out for the characters in the story.**_

_**Dee is hands down my most fun character to write, the others couldn't make it to this party really. (Most of them would be in the US anyway and I don't want that many OCs running around)**_

_**I have some other surprises in store for the Unforgivable curses too, as in their connection to each other and other spells.**_

_**Trilonias: Just know this, Ginny is a favorite of mine. She's probably one of the most underrated characters in the fandom from what I have seen and it made me like her more. I plan to keep her relevant to the story though.**_

_**Smithback: I'm always happy when someone who hates the pairing or character I'm writing reads what is there and likes it regardless. Thanks!**_

* * *

Everything held some reminder of Ginny and Harry wanted to clear his head. When he left the Burrow there was some ways to go before he would be clear of the places they had spent time together or that brought back some recollection of her. Before he reached the village of Ottery St. Catchpole he crossed Stoatshead Hill and could see out over the darkened horizon the lights of the houses far off in the distance.

This hill, he remembered, had been where he and the Weasleys had met up with the Diggorys to go to the World Cup. Ginny had been there too…

He walked on through the night until he hit the worn cobblestone streets of Ottery Saint Catchpole. It was odd, in all of his time spent with Ron and his family growing up he had never ventured into the village there for any reason. Under the cover of night the rows of shops and businesses looked less inviting.

It would be easier to consider what he had to do here and he knew already that Ginny just couldn't be a part of this. He couldn't put her or the rest of her family in any danger—Ron was different, he was an Auror. But this wasn't like Voldemort, he had done something to this group, this _Ordo_ _Obscurum_. That's why he was being targeted.

Taking the day and its events into account was staggering. The close proximity of all that had happened didn't even seem possible. _Meeting the Angel of Death, having someone practically brought back to life, then having several people literally brought back to life, then those moments with Ginny and almost losing her there at the end…_

Molly had assured him that Ginny was going to be fine, the minor burns to her face and the little cuts weren't something too hard to heal and the most she would need after that was rest. But Harry didn't want to be there when she woke up; he didn't want to face her while he made the decision to leave her behind.

_And she's not going to wait around forever, there's always going to be another Dark Wizard or problem and you won't ever be able to protect her sufficiently. _

The voice in his head was chilling at first and he realized because it was Voldemort, he shivered for a moment and shook the sensation. This had nothing to do with Voldemort, that problem was long dead.

"There you are," Hermione breathed as she came into view around the corner. Her hair was a mess of curls and there was concern burning in her eyes. She was alone. "Your mum told us that you'd headed this way and explained what happened—I mean I don't know what to say, Snape and Sirius and your mum and dad back alive. It's a bit hard to take in…"

"Yeah," he averted his eyes from hers.

Her face softened to his flat tone. "Ginny's okay, Harry," she blurted out as if Harry hadn't checked on that before leaving.

"She's okay this time, but this just proves what I was scared of before, people get hurt around me. You got hurt more than once."

"And yet I'm still here. Ginny's made that choice too."

"I don't know if I can let her," Harry said.

Hermione rubbed his shoulder gently, a slim smile spreading over her face. "A lot's happened and you've been drinking tonight, I can smell it. I think it's just taking a toll on you, things will be clearer later."

Averting his eyes, Harry lowered his head and glanced along the ground. "Can I tell you something—and you not let Ron know?" he asked. "Or anyone else for that matter."

"Of course."

"Ginny and I ended up…having sex earlier tonight, before the attack," his voice was low now.

Hermione's cheeks reddened to the point that even in the dim street light he could see them. "Harry…"

"It feels like I did something wrong now," he said. "It's like I used her and now I'm getting ready to dump her," he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "She has every right to feel like that, Harry. You can't just decide to ban her from yourself again because it might be dangerous. Let her make her own decisions! She's a grown woman."

Harry looked up. "I can't do that—I can't put her in anymore danger."

"You never seemed to care that I was in danger," she said raising an eyebrow.

"That's different."

Hermione sighed. "And what about Ron? Is it okay to put him in harm's way?"

"Ron's an Auror. These risks are what he's come to expect," Harry paused. "Where is he, anyway?"

"He opted to stay with Ginny, like you should have, like you should be doing. If you had any kind of love for her you'd trust her to make these choices on her own."

Up until that point, the streets had been empty except for the two of them. It was so late that the taverns were now closed and they were just hours from dawn. There was some movement at the end of the street and while Hermione talked he noticed the figure standing near banks Catchpole Lake.

"What is it…what are you looking at?" Hermione leaned out to glance behind her. "How long has he been there?"

"I'm not sure," Harry spoke through clenched teeth. "I don't like this." Harry pushed past Hermione and started for the man, when she followed he held her back as if to cover her. "Hey!" he called.

Even from this distance and with the shadow shrouding the man's face, he could see the smile working its way over his face. "I have to apologize," the man said. "I didn't want to interrupt your conversation—it looks important."

"What do you need from us?" asked Hermione.

"Just a moment of your time—I have a message you see, for the famous Mister Harry Potter," he said as his smile grew to demented proportions and with a wave of his arm he yelled. _"Avanda Kedavera!" _

No wand, no hesitation or concentration—the killing curse flew from his palm and raced toward them through the alley way. Harry tackled Hermione to the ground with time to spare and fired back a stunner. The guy advanced on him slinging spells of all different variety and still there was no wand.

"How is he doing that? Killing curses are nearly impossible _with_ a wand…" Hermione scrambled for cover behind a nearby tree. Another wandless curse slammed into the cobblestone sidewalk. Harry's cutting curse barely missed the mysterious mage and the counter attack came in the way of an unknown jet of orange light that he sent arcing toward Harry. Hermione stormed out from the cover of the tree and threw a protection spell up in between them and the light's path.

_CRACK! _

The man vanished in a swirl of shadow and color and just as suddenly reappeared just behind them. His arm was already drawn back for the strike and he punched Hermione in the side of the face sending her sprawling to the street. Before Harry could properly react or even see exactly what had happened he was hit with something that he would have thought was a stunning spell, but he was conscious and flipping through the air.

Harry thudded down on the muddy banks of what must have been the lake. That had been the direction he could have sworn he was knocked. His sight was blurred and his eyes burned, but there was a figure stalking toward him. The frame was too big to be that of Hermione and Harry fought to reach his backup wand, his main had been lost in his midair flight to the shore of the lake. "As an Auror, I'm warning you that you're just going to make us go harder on you in the long run…" Harry managed as he struggled to reach for the wand, to get up, to do anything.

"We had wanted to let you live, thought you'd prove useful," said the man, there was a finality in his voice. "But you're too detrimental and dangerous to have around—an effect of fighting Voldemort at such a young age," he said.

No way to reach his wand, Harry did the next best thing. As the man stepped over the rocks he rolled over onto his back. "Where's Hermione?" he said. Lupin had once told him that he was becoming a one trick pony—he was predictable and that he'd had a known signature spell, it was time to put it to the test.

"Safe for now, we had wanted you to bear witness to what became of your friends for helping you resist, but you're far too dangerous to allow to live."

Harry raised his hand with his palm aimed at his opponent. _"Expelliarmus!"_ he shouted as he sent a blast of light from his palm. Even though this man had no wand, the spell could still knock him back if there was enough force put into it. But it was no matter, before the spell could reach his adversary there was a reflection charm between them and Harry's own spell rebounded back and slammed into his chest knocked him back to the water's edge.

The sound of his own wheezing breath filled the air as Harry struggled against the burden of his tightening muscles. Now the wandless man closed the gap between them, the twisted little smile on his face was barely visible in the low light. His hand was raised high he locked his gaze to Harry's.

A second Killing Curse left the man's hand and Harry wasn't even sure he could hear the incantation. But there was a brilliant flash of sickening green light that lit the grinning face of the man just before Harry felt the warm impact of the curse and everything went dark.

* * *

Not ten minutes after Ginny awakened she and Ron were already arguing, he held his hand to her collar bone to pin her down in the bed. His voice raised enough to sound stern and commanding. "You're not going bloody anywhere in your condition, stay in the bed before I stun you into it."

"You wouldn't. Mum would ring your scrawny neck, now let me up!"

"I don't know what you're so worried for, Hermione went to get him," Ron said.

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. "Someone's out to get Harry and you don't know why I'm worried—why aren't you more worried?"

Ron took a set on the bed next to her. "If you haven't noticed nothing is really normal right now, there's four people down stairs who we knew were dead just days ago and now there's some out of the blue dark wizard group here harassing us…"

"They said Harry did something, as if he hurt someone important—what happened?" Ginny asked.

An involuntary sigh escaped Ron. "It's mostly my fault, there was an incident in the Middle East—a stray curse of mine killed this guy we were sent to find and I guess word of his death got back to these people. That's all I can think of."

Ginny went to climb from the bed. "Is there anything else?"

"Snape and Sirius are questioning a guy down stairs," Ron said.

"Then we need to be down there listening," she slid one pale, freckled leg down to the touch the floor.

"Wait—what are you doing?" Ron threw up his hands in protest to stop her.

Ginny paused as her eyes fell down to the clothes she wore. "Did you change me out of my clothes?" she asked, her face reddening.

"No—I was told that Harry brought you…_oh no_…" Ron shook his head. "Blimey, he wouldn't do that, would he?"

"Nothing he hasn't seen before, help me get down stairs," Ginny said as she pushed up to her feet, trying for a third time to catch her balance. The potions she had been given mixed with the alcohol earlier were having this effect, Ron guessed.

"There's no point," James Potter's voice came through the door before he did. "The man Snape was questioning is dead," he said. Lily was right behind him.

"When did Snape get so ruthless?" asked Ron.

Lily shook her head. "It wasn't that—I've never seen anything like it really, it was like something just zapped him dead while he was talking, the only thing Snape had done was give him a truth serum."

"Sounds like what we saw in the desert, one of them just bit into something that killed him. Maybe it was that again."

"When Hermione and Harry get back I'm sure they'll have some idea what's going on, especially Hermione," Ginny said. "What did they find out before he died?"

"Not much more than we knew before, but it's something. This _Ordo Obscurum_ seems to be the revival of some old religion," Lily said.

James stepped further into the room and the exhausted expression he wore made him appear suddenly older than Ron had seen him as before. It was hard to believe they were even meeting face to face. "They're dedicated to bringing back something called the _Lucavi_—that was about as much as Snape could get out of him that made sense."

"What are they?" asked Ron.

"No idea."

With a mighty push, Ginny erected herself from the bed and grasped hold of the wall to stabilize herself. "That's why I have to go find Harry, he can't stay out there like this. He needs us," she said.

"He'll be back soon, just stay here," Ron said as he pushed her toward the bed, she braced herself against the bed to stay standing. "Com'on Ginny."

"I won't!" she yelled trembling. "I'm going to find him because it's what he would do for me. It wouldn't matter how hurt he was…he would come and find me," she said.

Lily swept in and wrapped her arms around Ginny's shoulders, their eyes met. "Just give him a little time, thirty minutes—he has to work some things out before he comes back. And you're still injured, we'll send Ron to find them then."

Ginny nodded and quietly dropped back onto the bed to sit.

* * *

A frozen spear-like pain pierced Hermione's heart as she watched the green burst of light strike Harry down. She had only just gotten her feet and her steps were all taken in a stagger. Blood trickled down one side of her face in a warm, red path and she could feel it starting to congeal but she didn't bother to brush it away.

_Harry. It can't be. _

She forced herself, willed herself, into a run toward the wandless wizard who had attacked them. Her wand came back and she let out a shout of anger, she didn't know what curses or hexes left the tip of her wand in those moments. The maddened barrage mostly grazed past her opponent, the last few had to be deflected.

Hermione neared the shore line, tears and blood streaked her face and the only sound she could hear was her breath, the wind, the beat of her heart hard in her ears. He fired a quick series of stunners followed by two killing curses at her and she dropped to hide behind a large rock at the edge of the shore. The spells gouged out huge chunks of the stone and gave her an idea. She turned and wrapped with her wand on the side of the stone, transfiguring it into a canon. Almost the moment it appeared it fired and the man was barely able to raise his guard in time. Part of the force still reached him and he was tossed back onto the lake.

"_Impervius!"_ Hermione's scream broke the air as she cast the spell down onto her shoes. When she reached the water, she dashed out onto it and stood right atop the waves. The spell would keep any substance from passing through another, including water—hence her shoes were unable to sink and kept the rest of her afloat.

With an unheard spell, the man caused a torrent of water to hold him up like a miniature geyser attached to his feet. "It would seem you wish to hasten your death," he said.

She could hear his words but the proper responses escaped her. All she could think about was Harry's body there on the shore and all she could reason was that she was going to kill this man, whoever he was. Hermione said nothing before she made a quick circular motion with her wand churned around and up into a huge muscular man holding a spear—Poseidon.

Standing atop the waves that she was making with the form of the oceanic god, Hermione guided her conjuration forward and sent his spear sailing through the air. But the wandless man bounded forward on the top of the small spurts of water and sent a flaming serpent from his hands to intercept Hermione's water spear. The fire would have reached her had she not positioned Poseidon in front of her.

The transfigured water body steamed and boiled through as the fire burrowed into it, Hermione couldn't stay in cover there much longer. The steam blasted past her, filling her nostrils and making her hair damp. From where she crouched she could barely make out the dark outline of Harry's lifeless form on the shore.

_He's still not moving…he's not going to…_

Hermione turned away, her eyes still stinging with tears. She motioned with her wand in front of her. _"Glacius Totalus!"_ she shouted and a wall of water rose up, freezing solid.

"You chose to enter this fight when I would have left you to lay in the street, yet you go on the defensive and hide behind childish spells," said the man. "One would think you'd have come at me with more…rage."

His voice was all she needed, the wall of ice was too thick to see him through it but she didn't need sight if she had a general location. She pulled her hands back together and whipped her wand out straight at the wall, hitting it with a Reductor Curse and then quickly whipping the wand back around herself. The ice followed suit, tracing a path behind the wand and she let the shattered ice flicker in a swirl before firing it at her opponent.

There was too much for him to guard against all of it. He managed to cover his face at first but the force with which she had sent it at him was so immense that the shards ripped past him tearing at his clothes and skin. When he moved his hands to grab the wounds a large, jagged piece of ice caught him in the face and spilled his blood out over the water. He staggered over the waves, losing his concentration and causing the water that held him up to waver.

"You're mistaken if you don't think I mean to kill you—you murdered Harry," it was her words but the voice she didn't recognize. She'd never felt this before and her other thought processes were drained away. Images of Harry flashed through her mind and she raised her wand at the stumbling man, streaked with blood.

"_Viscus Eruptus!" _

He fired some curse back, a blast of scarlet tinged with purple. It was too quick and their two spells were passing in midair before she realized what had happened. But her spell found its mark and there was a violent retching almost instantly. When his spell hit Hermione could feel the darkness engulfing her and threatening to swallow her whole. Her eyes slipped close but she could see the effect her opponent had gotten.

His hands were clenched around his stomach and he was screaming with wide eyed horror. There was a sickly, gooey sound and Hermione turned away, knowing what to expect next. The Entrails-Expelling Curse was one she would have never thought to use, but it just came to her in that moment and for a second she was glad it had.

She stumbled against the water, trying to fight the darkness to make it back to the shore. But she was too weak and she only managed to barely get the Bubble Head charm out before crashing down into the dark lake and blacking out.

* * *

Snape and Sirius had actually agreed that the body should be left in the garden. It was an odd occurrence for James seeing them come to an understanding on something. But they knew Molly Weasley and if there was one thing she wouldn't want it was a dead dark wizard lounging on her sofa.

They lugged him out to the bench that faced out toward the Quidditch Pitch and flopped him onto it as if he was sitting there watching the night sky. "There," Sirius said. "Looks like the chap just had a bit too much to drink."

"He looks like a haphazardly propped up dead body left in a garden," Snape said with his usual drawl.

"You have to admit, it was a good idea, Snape," James said. "Molly wouldn't want him in her house."

Sirius nodded. "Come on, _Sevvy-Wevvy, _there's not many more things we could do with a dead body this time of the morning."

"I had thought you'd jam a pole up his bum and leave him to scare off the gnomes, Black," Snape said.

James snickered into his sleeve. "Has it really been that long since this happened? I mean this, the back and forth?"

"This never happened, you teased and tortured me until you grew a conscious and went on about your business," said Snape.

"Well I'm sorry about that, we were kids though and it wasn't like you didn't give as good as you got," James said.

Snape grimaced. "Yes, but you got the girl…"

"Look, a shooting star," Sirius pointed into the pre-dawn sky.

"That's no star," said Snape as he hurried past them for the house. James and Sirius broke into a run to follow him and in the sitting room they found Ginny out of her bed and dressed, but still looking very weak. Lily and Ron sat with her. The shooting star, or what they thought had been a star, crashed into the room with a rambunctious explosion of light.

A silvery white otter hung somberly in the air in the middle of the room, painting everything in its eerie glow. Before it even spoke, James saw Ginny mouth the word. "Harry…"

Hermione's voice came from the creature, her words strained and brimming with sorrow. "Harry…" there were audible sobs filling the space between the words, "is…dead…I'm sorry…"

The room went cold suddenly, everyone stood in wordless confusion and James knew it had to be some kind of mistake. It couldn't be right, the girl had been fooled. She was a young witch, anyone could make a mistake.

"Harry can't be dead, it's impossible," Ginny said slowly, shaking her head. "It just can't—this can't happen."

Lily just looked to James, her eyes locking with his as if she searched for some resolution or comfort. But he had none to give.

* * *

Fire.

Her body was on fire when she dragged herself through the water toward the light. That spell he last cast didn't seem to be one that she knew. Sight had been robbed of her, mostly. But it was slipping back and she could see the lantern lights in the distance, the empty streets of Ottery St. Catchpole. She clawed at the mud, feeling her way about for the body. Maybe he had moved. Maybe he wasn't dead at all. Harry had survived this curse before, after all.

Sight ebbed back in and things became clearer. Hermione was fully up onto the shore now and she collided with something cold and limp. The dying dampness of sweat still grace his skin. She felt her way up to his face, his glasses were crooked and his hair caked with sand.

"Harry…" she pulled up onto her knees and her eyes blurred with tears. She sobbed over him, burying her face in his chest. How could she go from newly engaged and happy to mourning her best friend so fast? Where had this day gone wrong?

She lay against Harry, there was no heart beat. His lungs didn't draw in air and what little warmth and personality there was left in his body was drained away slowly. She didn't know how long she was there but the pink tinges of dawn streaked over the sky before she finally sent her Patronus and told it what to say.


	10. Chapter Nine: In Memoriam

**Chapter Nine: In Memoriam**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**I apologize in advance for this chapter. Not due to quality but due to content. **_

_**You Know Who: There probably won't be any more Nephilim. Death has three siblings, Music, Might, and Free Will, but none of them will be around. As for other Angels and Demons, there will be. Nephilim as I write them are defined as any half Angelic or Demonic Human. And half basically means any mixture because the blood of angels is prevalent. **_

_**As for why Harry is being targeted, I revealed part of it, because he was fighting their men. But there more than that and I don't think anyone will see it coming.**_

* * *

Luna strolled into the Ministry around dawn; her usually vibrant gray eyes sagged under the weight of lack of sleep. But she had to help Daunte finish this furnace up and she was determined that it be done this morning. When she made her way to the lower echelons of the building where they had been working, she found Daunte wide awake and maneuvering large pieces of wood into place in the center of the structure they had built.

"Oh…it's almost ready?" Luna stopped in her tracks staring what looked to be a nearly functional furnace.

"Oh, Lovegood—I didn't see you there," he smiled. "Man you look a little worn out, you can get some more rest if you like," he said.

Luna shook her head and stepped up to his side, she was barely at his shoulder in height and she had to angle herself back to gaze up at him. "You did all of this…when did you have time?"

"I didn't go home, after I dropped you off I came back here and continued the work," he said. "I spurred the Americans on at the other end and even had the Floo network hooked up to this…we've got ourselves a giant transport system here. Something like this could actually come in handy if there were an emergency situation."

"What's…what's left to do?" asked Luna.

"Just the lighting and the transport, I thought you'd like to do the honors," Daunte was banishing the last logs into the furnace. He winked at her. "This whole thing was your idea, actually a pretty clever one at that…"

Luna pulled her wand, regarding him with some hesitation. Usually she didn't care but she found herself choosing her words very carefully and despite reviewing what she was about to say, it still spilled out. "Why don't we do it together?" she held her wand hand out as if for him to take the short Willow-Thestral-hair wand.

Daunte's brown eyes locked with hers and then he took hold of the wand. "On the count of three…"

"Three…" said Luna as suddenly as she could manage and they swung the wand together, said the incantation and sent a tumbling torrent of flames into the furnace. A burst of red-orange light filled the dimly lit room of the Ministry and Luna jerked her hand away as quickly as she could without arousing suspicion.

"Sadly, that was the easy part," Daunte said. "I'll need to contact them to tell them we're set up." He pulled out a small device that Luna had seen sometimes when she watched Muggle TV, though she couldn't place the name of it right away.

"That's a mobile, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, though it's not the kind the Muggle's use. This one's shielded against magic," he seemed to be typing something out on it. "I'm going to send them a text—this new thing we've been trying out lately."

"What will the text do?" she asked.

"It's words sent through the air, but its instant—or nearly instant—better than owls, faster than Portkeys or the Floo and definitely safer than trans-continental Apparation, heh."

Luna tucked her wand back behind her ear and sighed. "Well if the words are floating about like that with no owls to protect them, one would guess that Dabberblimps would get them," she said.

Daunte smiled. "I actually think they're protected against that kind of tampering," he closed the phone up. "Okay, it's done, now it'll be just a moment." He took Luna around the waist, his hand was so big and even before he explained himself, she felt somewhat compelled to comply. "I don't want you near the fire when this thing comes through; we need to be back as far as we can."

The fire flared and turned green, then it leaped higher and higher until it flattened out and was blue. The room was aglow as the flames made their shadows dance across the wall. The heat that had been previously projected out of the flames died off and something large burst through the fires and rolled out into the open floor.

The freighter crate sized cage was metallic and ragged from the thing inside's assaults on it. It slid out and the fire was extinguished behind it. Luna heard an artificial ding from Daunte's phone but in that instance she couldn't be bothered to ask what it meant or even look away from the creature housed in the cage.

It was a massive monstrosity, not the size of a Dragon yet but big enough to utterly crush a human with its arms. More than ever before, Luna found herself speechless in the face of something that seemed like an impossibility of a creature. The things face was long and almost reptilian, its eyes were like a cat's but blood red and darting here and there with an abrupt alertness. Bristly, wire like hair flanked the sides of its face and its teeth protruded off outside its mouth.

Though it looked the most natural on all fours, it climbed up against the cage to stand and the sleek, dark, short fur that covered its body was not enough to hide the confusing under carriage of the creature. It had huge breasts that were all too human and peppered with boils and what appeared to be a penis that slumped off to one side without any testicles. Most of the body was covered in something slick and wet, like puss and despite the hair veins could be seen here and there jutting out of the skin.

The thing's tail swished side to side and it dropped back to all fours, as if its display was done. Luna thought she detected a smile on its face. She edged back slowly as the thing's eyes burrowed into her.

"Luna, you okay?"

"Where is Potter?" the thing's voice was deep masculine at the same time as there was a feminine undertone and something more monstrous there too. It was three voices mingled as one talking together. "This place tastes of him…he's been here…"

Daunte's eyes were wide. "This is the most it's ever said."

"The girl knows of him—knows where the Potter is, peel back the layers and take a peek. Promise it won't hurt," this thing wasn't to be trusted. In the male voice Luna could hear an almost perverse desire and though the female sounded sincere, the third voice, the primal one wanted to rip her apart.

She stumbled back, falling to the ground on her butt and scrambling against the floor to backpedal. At the edge of her thoughts she could feel something pulling at her thoughts and memories. Somehow this thing was projecting itself into her mind. Luna wished she could believe this thing wasn't real.

A monstrous yellow eyed figure thrashed Luna about on the floor. She went for her wand but couldn't get it and when she finally knocked if free and lost it in the scuffle she kicked and screamed and bit and clawed at the thing to get it away. He was holding her down, pinning her to the stony flood of the large Ministry room and there was no one else there to help her.

The inside of her head felt as if it was being drilled into, but it wasn't just a physical pain. While the yellow eyed figure restrained her, something was walking the corridors of her mind, flaying her open. She saw the boys she had liked…Harry and Ron and the others and their rejection. The Carrows and their tortures and at the end of somewhere she could feel the greatest loss ebbing in on her. Lonliness she thought she'd shed away washed back in on her and she was enveloped in darkness, the room and the yellow eyed man faded away into it.

And then there was her reflection—but no, it's back was to her and she was facing it, looking at her own back. The Other Luna turned around and shambled toward her with a slinky, almost mocking gait. "This is your center. This is what you try so badly to hide and protect from this world, it's quite pathetic really."

"How did you get in here?" Luna managed. This thing wasn't her, it was wearing her face but everything about it and its mannerisms were wrong. It wasn't her.

There was no answer to her question. "Let's open this, shall we?" asked the Other Luna pointing to a white door that was lined with red light and pressed firmly into the darkness.

Without hesitation, the Other Luna opened the door with a snap of the fingers and the red light spilled out. Red light flooded the area around them and Luna found herself watching her mother lay on the floor with blood leaking from the blown open lower half of her face and twitching feebly against the plush, blood soaked carpet. Her arm was out stretched in a plea, as it had been when little Luna stood there years before.

And that sight broke her. Luna heard the Other her laughing somewhere and everywhere. A rich metallic smell filled the air around her.

She blinked and found herself hugged up to someone—the yellow eyed man! For a moment she struggled but the faint hint of cologne told her she was wrong. Daunte was clutching her tight, holding her to the floor. He repeated her name. "Luna—Luna can you hear me…Lovegood, come on…"

Her reply came out as a gasp and she could feel something wet and warm running down her face. Daunte cradled her back in his laps to look down at her. "Shit—I'm sorry Luna, I'm so sorry. It's never done that before," he mopped the tears from under eyes and she saw on his hand, blood.

"What happened…" she managed.

"I don't know—you're crying blood and your nose…its bleeding too. We need to get you to a healer," Daunte said.

Though she stayed pressed to him and didn't refuse the help she shook her head. "I'm okay—I've had worse, but we need to alert Harry," even as the words came out, that she was okay she knew he didn't believe them because she was still shaking and crying.

* * *

Hermione was covered in her own blood and despite the time of morning, wide awake. Her mind brimmed with thoughts of Harry—of how she had gone wrong and how she could have helped him, forced him to come back to the Burrow with her or anything. She was to blame for Harry's death, if she had acted sooner, if she had been able to kill sooner this would have never happened.

Ron's arms were tight around her shoulders and his face was buried against her neck. Ginny, Lily and James hadn't emerged from the upstairs room since the body had been brought back. She couldn't stand to see Harry laying there on the bed like that, he seemed to be sleep but it was so different at the same time. And the thought of him never waking up or moving again stabbed at her with renewed vigor each time it entered her mind.

_He's really dead…_

Part of her had worried about this before but then she didn't think it was possible. This was a man who as a baby had rebounded a killing curse like it was just a simple thing and as a boy had fought one of the darkest wizards in history. To be killed by some lackey, to be brought down by this wandless wizard…it was unfathomable.

She had vomited recently, sick with the grief over Harry. He was her best friend, Ron and her were something else all together and while she loved Ginny and Luna, Harry had always been there in some capacity. He was like the pillar they all leaned on, and she had grown too used to that.

"They have to come down and eat—this is going to be harder to get through if no one's going to eat," Molly's voice sounded empty, the tone was hers but there was no inflection there was no personality. "You can't all just starve yourselves."

"You're not eating either," Ron bit back bitterly.

"I'm—well no not yet," Molly said.

"Are we going to alert the other Weasleys? His other friends?" Snape asked, his voice seemed different too, and he made eye contact with no one. "People are going to want to know…"

"Bugger that," Ginny's voice came from the steps, her wand was out and her eyes were rimmed with red puffy skin. "No one leaves this bloody house, and no one tells ANYONE!" she screamed.

"Ginny, dear…"

"No, Harry's coming back. Something she said told me that, he's coming back because I know at least part of our future. She let me know that much and she had to have done it for a reason."

Hermione knew Ginny to be talking about Death—Dee—but even she didn't seem sure of the finality of time when it came to what the Angel of Death said. Any number of actions could change the future if time was in constant flux. Hermione had seen time travel at work and even then she didn't understand the true ramifications of it. And that's not to say that what Death could do was anywhere close to the low level power of Time Turners.

Of course Ginny had told Hermione right off the bat that this was a test. This was something Death knew would happen. Hermione was feared for when the realization hit Ginny, not because it would devastate Ginny, though it would.

But it would put out that last little spark of hope that existed between them.

Molly passed plates out to them. "It's horrible, it's just I'm sorry," she was crying again. "The foods cold, I didn't have the sense to warm it back up…"

Hermione looked up at her and tried to flash a smile, to give her a small gesture to help her out. But she knew she had failed before she even tried.

"You don't know what I know," Ginny said to no one at all as she took a bite of cold bacon. "You don't…"

There was a sudden pair of explosive sounds outside the door.

_CA-CRACK! _

Someone knocked at the door. "It's me, Luna—I'm trying to find Harry."

Ginny glared at everyone and propelled herself to the door, wand still in hand. She opened it to find Luna standing there with a tall dark skinned man dressed in a Muggle maroon button down shirt with a black tie. "Not right now Luna…just—we can't."

"What's the matter? What's happened? You're crying, is it Harry?" Hermione could hear Luna's voice and Ginny didn't have the heart to stop her from plowing her way through the door. The man that was with Luna waited, a confused look on his face.

Luna's pale face was stained with something red and her eyes looked worn out, blood shot. "Luna dear—sit down and have some breakfast," Molly said in as normal a tone as she could muster.

"You're all grieving, you're all…where's Harry?" Luna asked. "Where is he?" she demanded and suddenly Hermione wondered why she seemed so high strung, so un-Luna-like.

"You're Lovegood's daughter, right?" came the familiar voice that she had heard only a hand full of times. Sirius Black emerged from the shadows and walked toward her. "I remember you…" he looked much older and pale and sick since the news of Harry's death.

Hermione could tell by the look on Ginny's face she regretted trying to hide Harry's loss from everyone else. But she didn't have the heart to tell Luna and she lowered her head in shame. "There were stories in the Quibbler, about dead people turning up again…I never thought for a second…Sirius Black…you'll tell me where Harry is."

It was suspect how she demanded the news, Hermione had half a mind to think Luna already knew. Sirius turned away and it was Snape who finally stepped forward. "Miss Lovegood—forgive the abruptness and lack of explanation, I fear I don't possess one, but Harry Potter has…passed on…"

Luna was silent for a long time and everyone else in the room watched her. Snape continued. "His parents and Black and I were brought back and…he died this morning in a fight with a dark wizard. Said wizard was killed by Granger and…"

"Harry's not dead!" Ginny yelled.

The man who had come with Luna stood in the doorway, his face a mixture of confusion and grief, he seemed to not know what to do. But Ginny pulled him inside. "Nothing's changed, no one leaves here—no one can know about this, they just can't because he's going to be back."

Hermione shook her head, unable to manage a convincing tone. "Yeah Ginny, you're right," she said.

* * *

Chains of bloody bone with bits of fleck flesh stuck in them jutted right in and out of Harry's body to hold him in place. The walls were alive, with faces and mouths open to let out tormented moans. The air was heavy with blood and sulfur and smoke and all around him the floor, walls and ceilings ebbed in and out like they were taking shallow breaths.

Harry was in a living, breathing prison.

He was nude, though he didn't know how and why. In fact, he didn't know how he had even arrived here. His glassed were gone, but he could see clearly enough. Off in the distance someone would scream every once in a while. He couldn't see them or even tell in which direction they were. This place was cavernous and huge.

And then Harry realized, it was Hell.

"I don't belong here," he screamed out. "Someone help!" he paused, the smoke burning at his throat. "Help."

He looked to his side to see Ginny standing there, her nude form glistening in the low red light of this place. She lumbered forward with a seductive cadence. "_Oh Harry_…but you do belong here—think of all the people you tortured. All the love you turned away and turned down for so long. You sicken me, I don't know what I saw in someone as selfish and introverted as you!"

A sharp, sickle like blade sliced up through the bottom of Ginny's chin and out the top of her head, lifting her nude form into the air. She struggled against the weapon, which Harry could clearly see was a scythe, kicking and jostling her body about. "That's enough from Bitch-Ginny, don't you think?" asked Dee who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "Now let's see which one you are," Dee held her hand up, projecting a whitish glow over Ginny's face.

She was revealed to be a boil covered, monstrous faced woman. Harry recoiled back and found himself to be suddenly free from the restraints that bound him before, but he was still naked.

"Someone you know?" Dee said wheeling the creature about on her scythe so he could see. And then she ripped the weapon through its head and pulled out something shimmering, black and oily. A split second later there was a horrid cry and she cleaved the black, oily mist in two. "There, that's better. Been a while since we've been here, seems like you're due to die every few years, huh?" Dee was dusting her hands off on her skirt, for some reason she was dressed like a Catholic School girl, Harry wasn't going to question it.

"I've met you like this before?" he asked.

"When you died and went to the King's Cross, I pulled you out and as a baby I was there ready to pull you back," she said.

"Why did—why am I in Hell," Harry asked.

Dee had an awkward smirk and she seemed to be staring into his eyes with a suspicious air about her. Every few moments her eyes would flick down and back up quickly. "Safest place to talk right now, what with the walls coming down between your world and Heaven…anyone could be listening," her eyes dropped down again and back up again. Her smile grew.

Suddenly Harry realized what she was looking at and clambered backward, slapping his hands in on his crotch to cover himself. "Jeeze, why are you—what's wrong with you?" he screamed.

"You never did take well to admiration, Harry," Dee snickered. "Ginny's a lucky girl, they should be calling you _Tripod-Potter_."

Harry clasped his junk up under himself, he thought it might hide itself out of sheer embarrassment. "Gah, what are we doing here. Why do we need secrecy?"

"Because I'm trying to teach you a lesson, you can't fight these battles they way you did before. You're not a kid. You want to protect your friends and family, its admirable. But you need to learn that sometimes that means letting them help you protect them and sometimes that means you're going to have to kill or do things that you might not think are all that savory."

"The killing curse is illegal, if that's what you mean," Harry said, her eyes reminded him too much of that curse, the one that had killed him again now.

Dee shook her head. "Illegal is a human construct. It's nothing to do with natural law. You can kill and you will have to. You can lay waste to these people because they've lost what little they had in them that made them people. Basically if you think what you went through down here was torturous, wait till you send them to me, they're going to get a trillion times worse," she said.

"I don't know if I can…kill I mean, like that," Harry said.

"Hermione did it, she did it for you and she did it to take someone down who was threatening to kill her and Ginny and Ron and everyone else you love. And do you think Ron wouldn't kill to protect, or Ginny? You're the one who fights this so hard, they're able to accept what they did, but you beat yourself up over it," Dee said. "Is it because you've seen what death does to people?"

"I've killed, you know it. Why does it matter how I feel?"

"Because that beating yourself up like that…will lead straight to you being back here…in Hell for real. That's one of the easiest ways to slip into the state that leads back to here," Dee said.

"You're taking me back then?" asked Harry.

"Not exactly, but I left them the means to do it themselves, they're figure it out. Shouldn't be too much longer now."

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**An apology to Luna fans, don't worry, Luna is one of my favorites too. But there's a lot that is going on in this and everyone is kind of getting messed over and Luna will have her shining moments later on too. **_


	11. Chapter Ten: The Proof of Existence

**Chapter Ten: The Proof of Existence**

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**See this is the thing, I've got a new job and its pretty demanding. Not in that it takes a lot out of me, it's just that it starts at 6 AM and goes till 2:30 PM and I have to be up at 4 AM just to make it, so it's harder for me to write. But this story and all my others mean a lot to me**_

* * *

It never ceased to amaze Daphne just how much room the Ministry of Magic occupied. After years of working inside of the building and even giving the tour to others a few times herself, there were always new rooms to explore. It was taking them so long to reach this room, she wondered if there would be time to grab a bite to eat afterwards. But Daphne's boss had been adamant she and Blaise at least get a look at what was going on. He couldn't explain it to them, though she didn't know why.

A row of stone columns ushered them up to a door and she paused to read something inscribed on a fairly recently added plaque. As she read the words the realization flashed over her face. _Formerly the Hall of Prophecy—on June the 16__th__ of the year 1996 Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Ginevra Weasley, and Neville Longbottom bravely stood their ground in what would later become the first volley fired in the Second Wizarding War. For their bravery and conviction, Britain is eternally grateful. _

Despite her best efforts, Daphne's face must have betrayed her because Blaise furrowed his brow and glanced down at her. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Look like you've just seen a ghost, Greengrass."

"Did you know where we were?"

"I suspected as much, not much reason to leave a room empty in a place as strapped for space as the Ministry," he leaned back against the column, with a sarcastic smirk on his face.

"And you don't seem to care much about it either."

Blaise shrugged. "Never been a huge fan of monuments, if that's what you mean." Daphne's blue eyes narrowed and she turned to him with an angry sigh. "And I really don't care for reminders of the War," said Blaise. She didn't need to hear more on the reasoning why, the War had changed _everythng_. If her parents had been alive today they might have complained about all of the anti-blood-purity legislation getting thrown up and the way some of the more _respectable _families were now housed in Azkaban.

June sixteenth. Her parents had died only a week later. With Voldemort out in the open and free to move about gathering followers, he had immediately started working the pure bloods at the top of the chain. Only a year and some change later, Blaise's parents had been killed for the same reason. This event had forced them into a friendship of sorts—pure blood youngsters who fled Britain to escape Voldemort. There was no way they could stay to keep up appearances; they had younger siblings to worry about.

She pressed on through the door into the Hall of Prophecy. It was so incredibly massive, that she wasn't sure how to approach it. The sheer size of the room distracted her for a split moment from the greasy beast that paced up and down a large cage in the center of the room. As she watched the thing something prickled inside of her mind. Not a physical sensation, but it felt like…_it felt like being touched by those hands again._

Standing there in the doorway, Daphne shivered and she could feel those powder dry hands gliding over her tear stained cheeks. The afterglow of the Killing Curses he had sent for her parents still hung in the air. She had thought about that night so often and how Voldemort had loomed there in the doorway regarding her and her younger sister with those red eyes. She didn't know why they had been spared. But why was she thinking of all this right now?

When, at last she snapped back to reality Blaise was rocking her by the shoulder and regarding her with a curious expression. "What is that thing?" he asked. The creature paced the cage, but its eyes were locked on Daphne. .

"If the Unspeakables are here dealing with it, we might never know," Daphne said.

Blaise shivered so hard that he bumped into her and she instinctively clutched for her partner's hand. "Do you think they honestly needed to call us in here?"

"You're shaking," she said. "Hit Wizards are as good as anything when no one knows what a creature is," Daphne added.

Whirling around to look at the door, she could tell that Blaise was nervous before he even spoke. "Do you feel that…it's almost like…"

"…Dementors," Daphne said. There was a bolt of pain, something white-hot flashed in her mind. For an instant she could see herself straddling Blaise's lap, writhing against him. Despite it lasting only a second she could feel the detail of it, hear the exasperated breaths welling up from inside of her. She could swear he had been nibbling at her neck.

These weren't her memories. This had never happened. Her eyes trailed over to Blaise and he was looking back at her, the awkward nervousness between them welling up until it seem like they might burst.

"I was looking for both of you," Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic idled into the room. He was a former Auror and a fearfully massive man, one of the few who seemed like he might not even need a wand if things got out of hand. He slapped a large palm to Daphne's back. "It looks like I'm going to have to lower your pay," he said.

"What?"

"Why?"

"Didn't you see this morning's Prophet? Someone killed a notorious Wizard who was an expert in wandless combat—they ejected his insides and left his body laying in the lake at Ottery St. Catchpole. We're bringing the body in to make a positive idea."

Daphne motioned to the door. "It's quieter out here," she said. The second they were outside her head felt clearer. But the image of she and Blaise was burned into her memory. "Do you think we have a vigilante?"

"If we do, we need to thank him. Though I still want you two out at the scene, see if there's something more to this, we're kind of short changed on Aurors at the present," said Kingsley.

Blaise and Daphne nodded.

* * *

Wide eyed with shock, Harry watched as Hermione battled the wandless Wizard atop the lake. Her spell work was impractical, half of what she did was the kind of thing that had never been meant for battling. But as he watched her dispatch of the man with the curse that made his insides vault out of his mouth, Harry wondered if she hadn't been hiding this talent for all of these years.

"Incredible, isn't she?" asked Dee from her spot next to Harry. The two of them were standing about a foot off the water in mid air, Harry didn't question why. "I would say this moment right here is going to be the Crowning Moment of Awesome for Hermione Granger," Dee held her hands up, forming a little box in the air with her index fingers and thumbs touching—as if to say she were taking a snapshot.

"How did—how did she get like this?" Harry asked.

Dee shrugged. "It's called _taking a level in bad ass_. Though the really important part is coming up…" Dee pointed with her cigarette to where Hermione had returned to the shore next to Harry's body. She lay against his lifeless form and Harry fought the urge to jump back into his body or to even just call out to her. As if she sensed what he thought Dee said, "She can't hear you or see you, remember?"

"Yeah."

"All of this happened hours ago in your timeline," Dee said.

Hermione kissed Harry on the forehead and pressed her face against his. She was crying hysterically and grasping at her stomach as if in pain. Then Harry realized—_if this was hours ago, Ginny must know by now…_

The thought of her grief clenched his heart tight and he tugged at Dee's arm. "Let's get out of here," he said.

She nodded. "Don't go thinking this is some sappy Christmas story where I show you what your life would be like if you became a better person or never lived," she said.

"What?"

"I just want to clarify, if I show you something it's not for the betterment of your life. You're still one person and I have no reason to worry over one death, normally. What I'm trying to show you is something that will help you protect the world from what's coming," Dee said.

Harry glared at her, they were in some kind of limbo. Everything was hazy and gray and there was fog all around them. He couldn't see but something gave him the idea they were standing in water. "I don't think I understand."

"Of course you don't," Dee said. "Not yet. But I might not have long. I'm going to show you how your over active sense of mercy has gotten those around you killed," she said.

"Aren't Angels supposed to be all about mercy?"

Dee rolled her eyes. "Mercy shouldn't be so freely given," she said. "And yet your life, even before you were able to remember driven by a series of bad choices. I guess it didn't all turn out bad, you have the Weasley's and Hermione and some other people. But your parents could have picked anyone to be their Secret Keeper…they passed on two loyal friends for a Death Eater. Your mother and father going about unarmed in their home when Voldemort was looking for them….the face that Dumbledore chose for you to live with the most horrible people he could have picked…"

Harry cut her off. "I get your point," he said.

"Now for the fun part," Dee started and clapped her hands together. "We're going to skip back to your first year of school and look at a little montage of sorts, every death you could have prevented, every moment when you did the _human _thing…"

"You want me to be some kind of murderous monster?"

"Sometimes Harry, life requires that we be monsters," Dee said.

* * *

It was nearing lunch time and Hermione couldn't really be sure how much time had passed, it wasn't what she was worried about. Ginny had finally fallen asleep, slumped against the door of the house so that no one could leave. Every so often she would open her eyes and glance around the room at everyone only to nod back off.

There was nothing that they could say to Ginny, she had done what she could to stave off the fright and tears but everyone knew it would flood in on her eventually. Harry was gone and they were sitting on their hands doing nothing to find out who this group had wanted him dead was. Hermione couldn't believe she was feeling this, she wanted to be out there hunting these people down.

"He's still laying there," Luna said as she descended the stairs. "He looks peaceful, actually. I wouldn't worry Ginny, really. I'd like to think he's just sleeping like a stone…"

Luna was off, more so than normal. Hermione had noticed her in between bouts of her own guilt. It seemed that her mind was cursed with the constant need to be working and even the small observation she had noticed with Luna was one more thing that could partially occupy her mind, keep her from thinking of what happened in town.

A warm hand fumbled against the side of Hermione's body, she didn't move at first but as the hand snaked its way toward her bra she whirled around and slapped Ron square in the face. Hermione rounded on him, bounding up from her chair and staring him down. "Just who the Hell do you think you are? You've got some bloody cheek to pull a thing like that right now!"

"Hermione I wasn't…I was trying to remind you…about _the_ stone, the one _she _gave us," Ron said.

Two things dawned on Hermione at the same time; everyone in the entire room was staring at her in shock and she had hidden something very special and very rare in her bra only hours before—The Resurrection Stone. She delved her hand down the front of her shirt and fished the smooth black rock out and palmed it. No one else in the group knew what it was, most of them had ever laid eyes on the thing before Harry tossed it.

Of course some of those in the house had grown up with Xenophilius Lovegood. "That's one of the Hallows," Luna piped up. "The Resurrection Stone…"

Hermione massaged the small rock in her hand and looked around the room at everyone. Ron seemed to be thinking the same thing, that's why he had gone for it. "You've got to try it—Harry would do it for you and me…he'd do it for Ginny."

"But the story…it said it brings people back wrong," Hermione said.

"The story is just a story maybe, and even if it's not you're like the smartest person I've ever met. If anyone could figure it out, it'd be you..." Ron said.

Hermione couldn't help but blush.

Daunte, the Wizard who had come with Luna was sitting in the corner alone. He looked up when they mentioned the Hallow, but he still didn't say anything.

* * *

"What is this place?" Harry asked.

Dee shrugged. "It's hard to explain…but it's called _The Proof of Existence_. It's made of the essence of memories, but I can rearrange them as I feel fit."

Being pulled from time to time by Dee wasn't like Apparation or using a Port Key; it felt like changing scenes in a movie or turning the page in a book. One second they were watching Quirrell crumble into ash and then the next they were seeing the Basilisk slain, its blood running down Harry's arm as he went to revive Ginny. The memory seemed fresh to him as he watched it, back then even she had these feeling for him and even as he watched her on the ground there he realized it.

Fade to black and scene.

Harry watched himself as he vowed to kill Sirius Black for the betrayal of his parents and all of the pain he had caused him. Then another change, Harry was letting the real man who had caused their deaths walk away.

"See that, right there?" said Dee.

"I lived it."

"That was your mistake, you could have prevented the early return of a tyrant and smote the person who wronged your family," Dee said.

Harry shook his head. "My parents wouldn't have wanted it…"

"…your parents kindness and willingness to trust in the good will of people got them killed. They trusted a person whom for all intensive purposes thought of them as little more than a means to an end. Do you think Pettigrew felt remorse? Did you think him to be hiding as a rat to _watch over you for your safety?_"

"What's the point of this?" his tone verging on anger now.

Dee snapped her fingers. "Cedric Diggory. If you had just taken the cup and left him stunned in the hedges you would have saved his life…"

"How was I supposed to know that? You just seem to be blaming me for all of these things," Harry said.

"Just as Voldemort marked you as his equal, you marked him as yours. You allowed Pettigrew to live and he spilled your blood into Voldemort's veins to grant him the freedom to touch you. Then your humility and kindness and need to show mercy risks those around you. I need to know that you're able to switch off, I want you to be able to kill without discrimination and when need be without remorse."

"You want me to rob someone of their life?"

"The soul is eternal, if they were truly good, then they have nothing to worry about," Dee smiled.

Harry stiffened and made a small noise in his throat.

"This is a good one, watch." Dee was standing before the ghostly memory of Sirius Black being knocked through the veil in the Department of Mysteries. Thing progressed along until Harry was chasing Bellatrix Lestrange and he attempted to use the torture curse on her, this time though—it worked.

Harry stepped away from Dee in horror as he watched himself pin Bellatrix against the wall and he struck her with the curse again. "This is for the Longbottoms…and for everyone else you've ever hurt…I'll make sure that you never raise a wand again," Harry spat. She was crumpled up on the floor writhing in pain still when Harry pointed the wand at her temple and cast the memory altering spell…

…only the him back them didn't know it and the incantation was the least of the problems with it. If used incorrectly it could scramble the brain. Bellatrix Lestrange's eyes went blank and she sobbed on the ground. She wrenched and rolled over onto her back. The Harry accompanying Dee couldn't believe his eyes.

"What was that?" he said.

"What could have happened if you had the balls, you could have ended the bitch right there. Instead she went on to almost kill several of the people closest to you…" the world went dark and around Harry were several bodies. Luna was the first he noticed, she seemed so much tinier without life and her bones punched at the skin. Hermione was battered and bruised, the color gone from her skin and the words 'Mudblood' and 'Whore' etched into her arms in drying wounds. Ron was slit open, like someone would open a crab. His insides blossoming out like a flower and when he saw Ginny, he couldn't look. She was dead but still moving. "She led the charge into Hogwarts that night when Dumbledore died. She forced her own nephew to take up a post in an evil, racist terrorist organization. She did everything wrong she could!"

"You could have done this to us Harry," Ginny's body said as it slowly sat up. The hurt and blame in her voice tore at Harry even though he was sure it wasn't real. He wasn't sure what kind of powers Dee could have possibly had.

Then he saw the scene playing out still, past the bodies of his friends, past that possible reality. Harry was confused, but as he watched the bodies faded and he was watching himself lording over Bellatrix. "More than likely Voldemort will be so angry with you he will end you despite you not having your memory…" he said.

Bellatrix cried on the ground. "Please…someone help me!"

"A waste of breath…no one who'd want to help you can now, you're alone. Even the _Dark Lord_ himself can't hear you now…"

"Can't I, Potter?" the voice sent chills down the back of real Harry as he watched. Voldemort seemed to meld out of the shadows. His thin, terrible snake-like face smiling as he sauntered forward, barefoot. _He was always barefoot. _

The dream-Harry remained quiet.

"Gone quiet all of a sudden, boy? Don't you see, you're all alone again with me and here we stand. You're always going to be alone—no matter what you might think…and if you wish to kill Bellatrix, you may but realize it makes you like me and that's the only point I need make. They'll never understand who you are!"

To Harry's shock, the him from the past that never was raised the wand killed Bellatrix with a killing curse, he leveled the wand on Voldemort glaring, tears welling up around his eyes. "I'm not like you—I kill to protect and avenge others and mark my words, I will kill you just the same!"

The memory faded and they shifted into nothingness. He and Dee were standing in the upper room of the Burrow, Ginny's old room. Only it was different. It felt dull and gray, like the color had been drained out of it. The house seemed empty and there were no signs of life even out the window. "A hero knows when to kill, Harry—you may have saved lives, but you lost the key to being a hero when you put the monsters and human waste you were trying to stop on level with the people you meant to save."

Harry was silent for a long time. "Where…"

Dee cut across him. "We're in the in-between, relax its just a shadow cast by reality. But you're soul is safe here until we're ready. You are to wait here for now, don't wander off…" she said.

Harry nodded as he tried a seat on the bed, good he didn't fall through.

"I'd like to thank you for choosing the Angel of Death Airlines…please use caution when reflecting back on these events as the perception of the contents of your memory may have shifted during the flight. Have a nice day," Dee said mimicking a stewardess and suddenly she was in one's outfit too.

Then without another sound, in the space of time it would have taken to blink an eye, she was gone.

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**Sorry for the wait, the next one should be a little faster, my days off approach. **_


	12. Chapter Eleven: Sculpting the Soul

**Chapter Eleven: Sculpting the Soul**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_**Not much to say here except for sorry for the wait again.**_

* * *

Ginny and Ron had piled into the bedroom at the top of the stairs around Harry's body. He'd been dead for only hours, though Hermione observed that he still looked as peaceful as he had when they'd first laid him in the bed. The untidiness of his dark hair made him seem all the more like he was just sleep. But they had taken their turns clutching the Resurrection Stone close and trying to call to his soul, it just didn't work.

It had been Ginny who had gone last, trying to summon him. When she failed all seemed hopeless. Her head sank in defeat, but she said nothing—obviously not wanting to let on that she was waning in her belief that this was possible. Hermione shook her head. _Ginny believed so much in what Death said—now the Hallow isn't even working properly. _

"Why did she give me this thing?" asked Hermione taking the stone back and examining it. She had heard the description Harry gave of the Horcruxed Stone before, it was a different situation, apparently somewhere down the line it had been set against a metal picture of the Hallows. The rock she held seemed like little more than a piece of obsidian. "Just…useless…"

"Maybe we're just not desperate enough," Ginny said.

Hermione glared at her, suddenly angry at the comment. _How dare her…_ "When have we ever been more desperate, Ginny—face it we need to just…" she couldn't finish the sentence. "Ginny just…I'd do anything to have Harry back…anything…." Ron looked at her and for a moment she wondered if he'd gotten the wrong idea, she didn't know why she wondered that. But for an instant she felt the stone pulse in her hands, maybe she had imagined it though.

The door to the room opened and Harry's parents were standing there with the Potters, Sirius, Luna, Daunte, and Snape the hall was filled with people and as sight of Harry reached them an even more sorrow-filled expression overtook their faces. The stone was hot in Hermione's hands, almost too hot. Suddenly a peculiar thought was etched into her mind. _How does this stone work?_

There wasn't much literature on the Hallows to begin with but something she read in the months of Horcrux Hunting became very relevant in her mind very quickly. Seeing Sirius solidified it. He had died from _passing through the veil_. Something in a book had hinted at the veil being a simple but sturdy protection which the Resurrection Stone violated to temporarily project people through.

Hermione opened her palm to examine the stone again. Instead of its usual dark luster the stone seemed impossibly black, as if light was being drawn into it. A sharp pinch of pain stung into the middle of her hand and Hermione dropped the small black rock. As it tumbled over the floor it came to an unnaturally rapid stop and stood on end. Light and fire erupted from the stone and a slender male shape formed out of the flames. For an instant Hermione thought this was Harry and she gasped, but the person was too tall and the body slightly too toned. He had a swimmer's physique and blond, messy hair. As he came into view the blue in his eyes seemed to glow with an eerie sheen and he took a lumbering step forward.

"Who are you?" asked Ron, the Elder Wand held at the ready.

"I'm called Cytheus," he said.

Hermione noticed Luna moved out of view when the man stepped nearer to the door. Lily Potter wasted no time speaking for everyone. "Are you the one who's going to help bring our son back?" she asked.

"I can do little more than provide the breadcrumbs, but there's a price to pay," he said.

Hermione stepped in between Cytheus and the others. "Wait, we're not making a single magical deal with you…" she looked at the others. "I'm sorry, but Harry wouldn't want that."

Cytheus nodded. "Noble, but the deal not with me, it's with the boy who died," he smiled wryly.

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius.

"Seven sacrificial sets to repair a soul damaged in death and solidify his return to this world," Cytheus said.

"But who are you? Some kind of keeper of this stone or…" Snape trailed off.

"I'm someone who wants to see your success is all," Cytheus answered.

Daunte must have looked just as out of place as he felt, standing quietly in the lines of friends and loved ones of someone who had just died. "Will I be needed to do anything?" he asked. "I'd like to do something, we all owe Harry a lot…"

"Just regard this as something for those close to him and bear witness," said Cytheus. With a nod Daunte stepped back.

"How does this work, you haven't told us that," asked James.

Cytheus smiled. "I think you of all people should know how this works," he said. "Or at least understand the theory. Seven is the magical number of completion and it has its meanings other places too, we're going to take seven fragments from the pillars of Harry's extended family, one from his parents, one from his adopted parents Arthur and Molly Weasley, one from Hermione and Ron, one from Luna, one from Snape and another from Sirius," he paused, turning to regard Ginny. "And of course, the one from you and Harry, because you hold a small piece of his soul in yours. We're going to use that part of his soul as a blue print to repair the rest…"

Hermione suddenly remembered what Dee said, souls imprinting on each other during sex…she realized what had happened instantly and when she looked at Ginny, somehow it was obvious that Ginny knew about her own realization.

"What does this do…like what will happen then?" asked Ron. He didn't seem to make the connection. "Why does it take so many souls to fix one?"

"Because a soul might be easily broken, but much more must be given to repair it," said Cytheus. "This process can best be described as the exact opposite of a Horcrux and infinitely harder to do, because it requires the stone you have in your possession, the power to sculpt a soul flawlessly, which The Wand will be able to do and most of all it requires everything to be done out of love…"

"And we're all going to live through this?" asked Snape.

"Of course, you're like his anchors, if all of you died or any of you died during the process he would be lost forever, as would you."

Hermione looked at Ginny and nodded. "We'll do it," Ginny said.

* * *

The lake in Ottery St. Catchpole was off limits to regular citizens even this many hours after the body of a dead wizard was dragged from the surface. There'd been a mess according to the people who had been on scene when it was fresh. Most of the body's entrails had been ejected out into the lake using what seemed to be a medical spell…something that didn't seem to be a likely way to go about things but it was effective from the look of things.

Kingsley had said a notorious Wizard had been killed, but it wasn't until they arrived that Blaise realized whom it was. In his time hiding in other parts of Europe from Voldemort, he had heard talk of Udyr the Wandless. This was a more than slightly well known wizard. He was possibly the most skilled practitioner of wandless magic ever.

Still there wasn't much for Hit Wizards like them to do here, the target was dead and there was no sign of who had performed the magic that led to his downfall. Blaise wondered if they were really going to be in trouble for what happened here, Kingsley seemed to be joking when he said that.

"Zabini! Greengrass! You're not going to believe what we found," yelled an Auror named Adams that Blaise hardly knew.

Daphne turned to Blaise with a smirk. "This had better be interesting, why did they send us out here?"

He pressed his hand into her back to chide her along. As they made their way over to Udyr's body they could see a young wizard knelt next to the corpse. An older, familiar figure, that of the wand-maker Ollivander loomed over them watching. "We got Ollivander out here to check into something and it seems our suspicions were confirmed," said Adams.

Ollivander nodded, an expression on his face like he had just seen something unsavory. "It would seem that Udyr the Wandless was a fake—he had wands and cores implanted into his arms through magical surgery. It's a very delicate process, I wouldn't imagine it's something that most have ever seen or attempted before," said the older man.

"So this isn't something you're going to see a healer doing with ease?" asked Blaise.

"I daresay no healer would partake of such a travesty," said Ollivander. "It would go against their very nature."

"Do you know who made them? The wands I mean…" said Daphne.

Ollivander seemed to think for a second. "They're rugged, distinctly natural looking—rough cut, unmistakably the work of Gregorovitch before he died. The right arm was Thestral hair and carved from a holly tree, ten inches and springy—the other Dragon heartstring with elder wood, a little sturdier than the right and nine inches…" he rattled the specifications of the wands off.

"That sheds some light on things, it seems he wasn't as amazing as once thought," said Blaise.

* * *

Cytheus stood on the outside of the cluster of people that surrounded Harry Potter, along with Daunte. As the two outsiders it seemed to make the most sense and no one else present seemed to think twice about what had to be done or Harry. Snape even turned to Lily and James and said something that wouldn't make sense to the two of them. "I know this is late, but I hope that somehow this can make up for my part in your tragic past," Snape said somberly.

Ginny knew the particulars; Snape's prying had led to the death of James and Lily and nearly the death of Harry too. She wondered if they would ever find out what it was Snape had done, surely Harry had forgiven the man, but would Lily and James after all he had done?

Once the process had started little about the experience seemed to make sense anymore. The room was shrouded in light that seemed to drain the color out of everything and Cytheus didn't move or motion. There were no magic words stated and the process seemed to start on its own, a beam of white light cut through the colorless room and extended out to each of them. It was painful; Ginny could feel something scraping deep inside of her. The pain went further than physical, it tore at every part of her and she could feel it burning through ever wall of tolerance she had.

"The discomfort is momentary, damage done to a soul shows up as true pain—nothing you've done before is quite the same…" said Cytheus.

As the beams of light slammed into Harry the pain increased and there was a chorus of wincing and gasps as the tethers of light widened and jolted Harry's body. As if having a seizure he jerked and rocked against the bed, his face expressionless. And though the pain was so much to bare there was moment when something cut through it, a memory of she and Harry wrapped up in one another as one. _Had that been just last night? It seemed like so much further back._

All at once there was an explosion of light and the room went still. Cytheus was gone without a word or trace and Harry lay still on the bed. As everyone glanced around in shock, Ginny fought her way through toward him.

* * *

Harry felt weight on the bed behind him and when he glanced back at the shadow of what would be Ginny's bed he found himself laying there peacefully. How could he be looking at himself, he was right here sitting up and he was there at the same time. As he glanced down at his own hands they began to glow and he could hear Ginny's voice. "Harry, just open your eyes," she said.

He could see her face before his and he didn't care anymore about the fear of not being able to protect her, he would do it no matter what. And he pushed forward, it was so hard but he managed to fit his lips to hers and when they kissed he realized he was laying on the bed. Ginny was crouched over him, her knees on either side of his body and Hermione and Ron were there with his parents and the Weasleys and Snape and Sirius and even Luna…

His lips parted from Ginny's and she giggled. "I knew you'd be back..." she said.

"I'm sorry, Gin. I won't let you go again…ever," he said.

She threw herself down on top of him hugging him roughly and over her back, for a split second he could see the mirror on Ginny's wall and the reflection of someone who wasn't present in the room. Dee gave him a thumbs up and winked only to vanish in an instant.

His parents were at his side in an instant and Ginny crawled off, but Harry kept hold of one of her hands. "We're just glad…we thought we lost you, son," James said.

"Not so soon after getting me back," Harry smiled.

"You seem to have quite a lucky knack for surviving death, Potter," Snape said.

Ron muttered. "Wonder what she would have to say about that?"

Sirius was tussling the top of Harry's head. "Luck had nothing to do with it, the boy's un-killable," he said proudly.

"You look scared, Hermione," Harry said.

"I just…Harry—we're glad you're back it's just that…"

"I saw your fight, you were brilliant Hermione. Brilliant as always," he said.

Hermione blushed.

"What brought me back, was it the stone?" asked Harry.

"How did you know?" asked Ginny.

"I don't know, but I thought it didn't work correctly," Harry said.

"Oh we used parts of our souls to anchor yours in your body and protect you, kind of like making a horcrux, but it's made out of love and happy things…"

"That doesn't make sense…" Harry said.

The stranger near Luna Harry had just noticed laughed. "Glad I'm not the only one who thought this…oh sorry, I'm Daunte—we haven't met."

"Must be awkward for your first time meeting a bloke to be when he wakes up from death," Harry said.

"Something like that, but I do have a bit of an important message to deliver…"

"It needs to wait, he needs rest," Molly and Lily said in unison before looking at each other and blushing.

Harry massaged the back of Ginny's hand with his thumb. "I am kind of hungry, but I can't rest for long," he said.

"Why not?" asked Ron.

"I'm going to tear the _Ordo Obscurum_ to shreds. We're taking this fight to them," he said with a vigorous fire that Ginny couldn't remember Harry having in his voice. Hermione seemed to want to say something and when Ginny leaned in to hear she whispered.

"I haven't heard him so…determined since he first found out what Sirius Black did…" Hermione said.

Ginny had only been a second year and she wasn't in the loop at all back then, but she could imagine that this meant Harry was truly on the war path.


	13. Chapter 12: A Taste of Things to Come

**Chapter Twelve: A Taste of Things to Come**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **_**This is a little bit longer of a chapter, things have gotten kicked up now and there's not going to be much in the way of slow down. The pacing in this has been very slow though as far as passage of time and that's about to change soon, so get ready. Also we might not be seeing some people for a while. **_

_

* * *

_

After all of those years of strained, controlled contact; Harry seemed to be unable to keep his hands off of Ginny. Some part of them was in constant contact it seemed that a lot of the wondering had quickly disapperated from the groups consciousness. How this person had just popped out of the Resurrection Stone ready to revive Harry didn't make sense and Hermione mulled over the thought in her head as they gathered around the table in the backyard garden for a late lunch.

None of them had been eating well previously anyway.

A slow, cold wind swept around the house as Hermione stood shoulder to shoulder with Molly Weasley next to the grill. She watched one of the paddies of meat closely and flipped it over with her wand, plopping it down onto the iron bars with a sizzle of heat touching grease. "I noticed you hadn't said anything…about Harry and Ginny," Hermione whispered, thought it wasn't the thought she had in mind.

"What's there to really say—he saved her life more times than once, she followed him into any and everything she could and they make each other stronger for it, I kind of sorted it out a while back that they'd reach this place eventually…" Molly said. They both chanced a glance back at the table where Ginny was sleeping, slumped into Harry's lap and the revived Hedwig was resting atop her head in a nest of red hair.

Hermione snorted a short laugh. "Do you remember during the Tri-Wizard Tournament when you thought I'd hurt Harry's feelings or something? You were so cross with me…"

Molly narrowed her eyes playfully. "I thought I'd apologized for that."

"Did you ever…think about me and Ron?"

"I suppose the thought crossed my mind there too," Molly paused to flip a pair of darkened circles of meat. "Yes, I think that as the years wore on anyone who watched the two of you knew…"

Hermione lowered her head, blushing profusely. All of these years, all of these fights and the war and the death and even the time she spent with Ron behind and outside of closed doors…she was still taken to blushing at the mention of the two of them _together._

"…although, I wondered if my son would ever figure it out. You never told me how blunt you had to finally be to get him to see…" Molly continued.

A smile crept over Hermione's sun-kissed skin and shifted. "It's kind of unnervingly blunt, if you'd like to hear," she started. She would power through the story, though she realized that it was one thing for Molly to know they kissed and another thing entirely to have to tell her stories of it. "During the Battle of Hogwarts Ron kind of wanted to warn the House Elves to leave, I took his comment to mean he wanted to order them to fight and before I could properly protest he said 'you don't think I'd order them to fight, do you. We need to warn them!' and the next thing I knew I dropped what I was carrying, sprinted up to him and pressed him into the wall to kiss. The look on Harry's face was priceless. He just seemed to be thinking _so this is how it finally happens?_ or something."

Molly chuckled lightly, hugging Hermione around the shoulder. "Good on you, sometimes you've got to practically bash them over the head with it to get the point across. I had to trick Arthur up to the Astronomy Tower under the guise o studying or some such and I knocked him to the ground, tacking him and kissing him before he wised up," she said firmly.

Hermione and Molly burst into a fit of giggles next to the grill. It was a long comfortable laugh, the kind that Hermione didn't think that she would have ever had again this morning. _You have to tell her, you have to tell all of them…right now._

"I kind of have to tell you something though, I wanted to tell you first before…well…" Hermione trailed off.

"What is it dear?" asked Molly

"What's so funny over there?" Ron called from the table.

"I could have cooked them faster," howled Sirius.

Molly narrowed her eyes. "I'm not letting you anywhere near any of the cooking in my house, Black, especially since you didn't wash your hands after toting that body out of this garden! Don't think I've forgotten!"

Hermione shrunk back; her bravery in the moment had passed. She couldn't go on with it now. Something nipped at her arm lightly and she looked back to see Lily Potter standing there. "Molly, can I borrow Hermione for just a moment," she asked.

"Sure, I've got things here. It's fine."

Lily motioned for Hermione to follow her. Something odd struck her about the moment and she wondered if there was going to be some questioning about any number of the things that happened over the past few hours. Some of the things Cytheus said seemed very awkward in the way he had worded him, but they really weren't sure who or what he was or what he knew.

"Sorry to pull you away like that," said Lily. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

They were well out of earshot and around the side of the house before Lily spoke again. There was a front of clouds moving over the sky toward the Burrow slowly and it seemed that the sunny afternoon might not last much longer. Hermione hadn't expected it to last, sunshine in Southwestern England was a rare commodity.

As they neared the frog infested pond let out a sigh that Hermione couldn't quite read. "I just wanted to ask you how long it's been like this with Harry and Ginny," she paused. "It's really hard to figure all of this out, I was…dead for so long and then to watch the two of them now I realize how much I missed."

This was an inquiry that Hermione hadn't prepared herself for. "I'm not sure I know what you mean," she said and she really wasn't. She needed time to think about exactly what was being implied.

Harry and Ginny were just on the other side of the house resting against one another without a care in the world despite all that was happening around them. Moments like this seemed more important since the war. Maybe she hadn't realized it because some part of her figured she'd always have Hogwarts…always have the protection of the school and Dumbledore. But the real world wasn't safe and even just having the opportunity to _feel_ safe for a short time was something to be treasured.

"They just look so comfortable together, has Harry dated other girls…does he know about…well things?" Lily asked.

Hermione laughed lightly, despite the fact that she had heard what Death had said and pieced two and two together. "It seems like an odd thing to be asked, but Harry—he dated one other girl. It went really badly and I don't even think they kissed more than once, she was crying at the time," Hermione said.

"Oh."

"When we were twelve and Ginny was eleven Harry crawled into a passage beneath the school with Ron and pressed on completely alone to fight a giant snake and save her. He almost died broke so many school rules in the process…and he did it just because someone was down there. He would have gone to save anyone who was trapped…" Hermione said.

Lily smiled, her cheeks warming red as she tilted her head down in embarrassment. "I'm glad to hear it. Harry seems to have turned out just how James and I would have hoped. He's lucky to have friends like you and Ron…there's just so much I want to ask you about."

"Well I keep him and Ron in line," Hermione joked.

"I know how that is…I had to deal with James and Sirius—though Remus did help a lot of the time," she said somberly.

Steering the conversation away from the sensitive subject of Remus Lupin, Hermione shifted back to the questions. "Oh…well what else was there that you wanted to ask me?" asked Hermione. "I've got plenty of time."

* * *

Harry had hated to leave Ginny, but the second her mother woke her for lunch he just knew it was his only chance to escape to the restroom. His bladder couldn't be ignored much longer and wetting himself while she was sitting on his lap just wasn't an option. Of course he reasoned it was partly her fault, the way she had been sitting on him and all of the lemonade she was sharing with him…it ran right through and nothing could stop it now.

He sprinted up the stairs of the Burrow, desperate to reach the bathroom in the middle of the house. He paused only a moment, noticing Hermione and his mother alongside the pond talking. The prospect of what they could be discussing scared him, but not as much as the idea that he was seconds from the warm trickle of piss down his leg.

With reckless abandon he dashed into the bathroom, plowing through the door only to find Luna kissing that Daunte guy who had shown up with her. His concentration on his bladder issue waned for only a moment and they both turned to look at him. Though instead of embarrassment or shock or that usual dreamy look on Luna's face she just looked extremely angry, her gray eyes narrowed at him.

"Out, I have to pee!" Harry yelled in a panic and they were gone.

Luna and Daunte left the room in a quiet hurry and before the door could even close Harry was unzipping his pants. The urgency of his own situation wouldn't allow him to even consider what he had just walked in on. He let out a longing sigh of relief as he started and he didn't know how long it lasted, but he began to feel light headed.

"Potter!" the voice of Severus Snape bellowing on the other side of the door as he pounded at it startled Harry and on instinct he moved his hand down and rapidly zipped his pants, but it was too son and in the next second he was crying out as the blood-boiling pain shuddered through him, white and hot. He was stiffened by the sensation and couldn't move, his body toppled over to the side and Snape burst through the door. "What happened?"

"No don't…" Harry yelled rolling himself over to lay on his stomach in attempt to hide himself. His body throbbed with pain, and he bit his lip to dam it back. He could feel Snape watching him.

"Did you…did you _zip up on yourself?_" Snape asked with a slight chuckle in his drawl.

"Laugh it up," Harry groaned.

"I can possibly help you…though…"

"No. I'll just ask—someone else," he couldn't ask Hermione and Ginny seemed like the most logical choice, though he wished he'd learned healing spells.

"Your mother?"

"I'm not going to have my Mum feeling around down there, Snape," Harry spat as he pulled the rug to his crotch to sit up. "What made you burst in here like a madman and scare me like that?" he was silently considering giving up on anything that had zippers.

Snape sighed. "Well its in regards to two things, really. The first being your relationship with Miss Weasley," he said.

"What?"

"Through her year at the school without you, she regarded you as some kind of Saint. Spoke of you like you'd come from on high to deliver the word of God, despite the fact that you deserted her and took off with Ron and Granger…despite the fact that you severed the relationship you had to do these things," Snape said.

"I know, I feel bad about it," Harry said.

Snape shook his head. "I don't think you do know, because if you knew what happened at Hogwarts—if you knew the extent to which things got you'd have regarded her in a higher order of priority."

"What do you mean?"

"Ginny was brutally tortured by the Carrows using the Crutiatus Curse, beaten and was even held without food for days…" said Snape.

"I thought that you had control of them?"

"I couldn't always be watching, but I stopped them when I found out about it. Her jaw was broken on one instance and she was bruised as badly as I could imagine someone being conscious through, and do you know why?" Snape didn't need to say it but he did. "Because they thought she could tell them anything about you, Potter. She endured nearly nine months of continuous torment for that."

Harry shook his head, suddenly the physical pain he felt seemed to dull and he felt a heavy remorse budding in his chest. "Why didn't she tell me before?"

"Because it seems she wanted you to come back to her not because she did these things for you, but because you loved her. And perhaps she didn't want to seem broken or weak—she's always been headstrong, a trait that seems prevalent in most of the Weasleys."

"What else was there you wanted to tell me?" asked Harry wanting to get past this revelation.

"It's your Father, Harry—I have reason to believe that he's lying or at the very least hiding something," Snape said.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I know how you are with my dad…you're like I was with you, but just give him a chance—he's an adult and all now."

Snape fell silent and stepped toward the door to leave. "Do you need me to send someone up here to…sort this out for you?"

Harry sighed. "Just send Hermione and Ginny…we'll figure something out," Harry said.

* * *

((Luna and Daunte part, about them kissing the previous night and how Luna is initiating more than that or trying to, Luna is possessed.))

Luna wasted no time diving into Daunte's arms again, even as Snape passed around them she was leading him back toward the corner near the stairs. She planted another kiss on his lips, he didn't know what had happened. The other night ad McDonalds she had kissed him with this brash sort of innocence and it seemed to take everything she had to muster the courage.

Today she was forceful, like an entirely different set of rules applied. Her hands were swimming over his body and she groped at the fabric of his shirt, roughly tugging him toward her. Harry had only been back for a little over an hour and a half and here they were doing this, even as Daunte sunk into her kiss he wondered what had changed her so suddenly.

She pulled her lips away from his. "Aren't you worried about Harry?" he asked.

With her head tilted downward and a devilish grin plastered onto face, she regarded him with those gray eyes and he almost forgot the question. For a moment his mind flickered to a thought; _she had been odd, intelligent, funny, cute, a damn good witch…but anything but seductive. _

He pressed the thought from his mind in lieu of her gaze, losing himself in what seemed to be a new side to Luna. "Of course I was—Harry's fine now, but shhhh…" she pressed her finger to his lips. "Someone's coming—quick in here," she directed him back to a room that seemed to have been abandoned for some time, Quidditch posters dotted the walls. There were footfalls in the hallway after she closed the door and stood with her back to the knob blocking him in, the grin still not gone from her face. "Looks like we're in here alone—what do you suppose we should do?" she asked in a tone that told him exactly what she was looking to do.

"This is really a bad idea," Daunte said. "You're—well you're a bit younger than me and I don't think this is the time or place to be, well you know…" he chuckled lightly.

There was a light sound somewhere in the room now, like something rolling or spinning against hardwood. Before Daunte could investigate the noise Luna was headed toward him, her fingers poised to unbutton her blouse.

"What's got to be sorted out before we can do this?" she asked, her head dropping to one side loosely. "Don't you want to be the one to deflower me? Don't you want to make love to me?"

The words caught Daunte fully off guard, he stiffened his shoulders and idled in the center of the room before chancing a step backward. The sound of the object against the wood grew louder and he realized when the small spinning object on the desk lit up that it was a sneakoscope. He turned to see Luna's eyes trailing an orange after image in the air. "…the fuck?"

"You're the odd one out, don't you see…_please help me_…no—make love to me, they won't trust you anyway, I can't do it—you _must_ bring me James Potter—back to the Ministry, back to the furnace…_don't do it, please Daunte just…_just promise me this and I'm yours…" Luna's voice jerked and changed, one of them sounded more natural, like the Luna who had helped him build the furnace and given him the shy kiss the previous night.

_Something was speaking through her? The Imperius? _

He lifted his wand with a stunner spell but she smacked it down with her hand with such ease he didn't dare try again. "Daunte…_Daunte_…" Luna was moaning and screaming at the same time. She froze, her hands clasped over her head as she shook with pain or some unseen force.

A figure near the door popped into being, the Disillusionment Charm dropping away to reveal a young man with a stunningly stern glance that betrayed the youthful face. He rushed Luna and wrapped his hands around her body, pressing his wand to the side of her head and holding it there as he muttered a spell that sounded almost like a quick song. Luna's body went limp and the young man looked up, the light through the window catching his auburn hair in its light.

"Who are you? What's happened to her?" asked Daunte.

The man shook his head. "Someone's opened her mind and left her to be infected by creatures who latch onto a person's mind and soul…I've managed to drive them out and while she sleeps the damage should be repaired…that of it that could be, anyway," he said glanced up over his nose at Daunte.

"Thank you…she just suddenly seemed to get, wait you said something opened her mind?" Daunte said recalling the events of that morning. He didn't dare speak what he had seen, he didn't even know who this man was. "Who are you?"

When the man looked at him, he knew already there would be no answer coming to his inquiry. "Let her rest, when she wakes she will have questions but most of it will come back to her as she goes," said the man rising and slipping his wand into his cloak.

"Where are you going?"

But he never responded. Daunte watched as the auburn haired man popped out of sight in a swirl of Disapparation.

* * *

Hermione sat on the edge of the bathtub with her back to Harry and Ginny. She didn't chance moving her head, not even to lean it to one side. Part of her worried that she might glimpse Harry's nude form but she had to be there as Ginny wasn't the best when it came to healing magic, though Ginny was leaps and bounds better than Harry.

She walked Ginny over the spell carefully. "You might need to pour some more salve on the skin and pull it to stretch to make sure it properly heals…as its…well…delicate skin and there's a tendency for issue," said Hermione choosing her words carefully.

"Tendency for issue?" Harry gasped. "You better not let Ginny glue my bloody willy to my leg!"

"I'm trying to do my best here, Harry, please…"

Ginny groaned. "You could at least turn around and look to see what we're dealing with," she said.

"I don't want to see what Harry's dealing with, as you put it. I can help fine like this," Hermione said.

Rolling his eyes Harry let out an exasperated sigh. "You think it's any more fun for me learning that after almost twenty years of dressing myself I can't work a pair of pants only to then have to sit in the room with while the love of my life pieces my disfigured wanker back together and me best mate watches?" Harry cried.

"You called me the love of your life," Ginny's hand froze as she gazed up at him. "That's really sweet," she said with a smile, her brown eyes meeting his halfway.

Hermione scoffed, turning ever so slightly to the side. "Oh Ginny—they'll say anything when you're touching _that thing_," it was only after she said it that she realized what the implication there would be considering the only boy she would ever have been that way with was Ginny's older brother. Ginny let the comment pass and Hermione fought to change the subject. "And now I'm your best friend, am I Harry?" she asked.

"You and Ron are practically a package deal—you might as well be married for all I care," said Harry as he watched Ginny closely.

"Yeah," Ginny mused.

"Is the skin closing up?" Hermione asked nearly cutting them off and hoping her cheeks weren't turning too red or that they misinterpreted the reason for the blushing.. "Any sign that it's actually starting to work?"

Ginny nodded. "It looks like it, though I can't tell—it's really hard to be sure and we don't want there to be lasting effects."

Hermione grimaced. "Let me take a quick look, I just will have to try and forget what I see," she said.

"It's a shame, you should have seen it in its prime," Ginny snickered.

Harry's confidence visibly dimmed as Hermione turned to look him over. She stooped down over him examining his crotch with Ginny holding to him lightly to keep his pants out of the way. Before there was time to protest there were voices outside. The first one to come through clearly was Ron. "I'm telling you—Moaning _bloody_ Myrtle was coming out of the toilet in here a few weeks ago, did it while I was in the bath," said Ron.

"Blimey, how did she get way out here?" it was Sirius. "I remember her though, told me I had the nicest bum to ever pass through Hogwarts…"

"You might have to dispute your title with Harry, she was fond of him, really fond…" the door sprung open and Ginny and Hermione looked up in shock. Harry froze, wanting to fight to hide himself, to be anywhere but here. "What the Hell is going on here?" Ron shouted.

"Harry—you _dog_…" Sirius shook his head, looking torn between awe, pride and jealousy.

Hermione rolled her eyes, her face twisting up in anger. "Oh come off it, Harry zipped up on himself and he needed me to read the healing spells to Ginny so she could fix him…"

Ron and Sirius stared at each other and then burst into laughter. Harry hung his head in shame and Ginny suddenly went on the defensive. "It's not funny you two assholes—Harry was hurt!" Ginny yelled.

As their laughter went on, it seemed that Ginny was about to go for her want when there was a rumbled of feet coming up the stairs and Snape's voice called out. "Come quick, someone's broken in and something happened to Miss Lovegood," he called.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Unfamiliar Sky

**Chapter Thirteen: Unfamiliar Sky**

**Author's Note:** _Sorry for the long wait._

* * *

Luna stirred throughout her disturbed sleep and everyone took turns to watch over her. It was a hard night and the morning was even more so. By then her movements in the bed had become more erratic and she was crying out in her sleep, repeating phrases with tears streaming down her cheeks as she struggled against unseen forces.

From her chair next to the bed Hermione tried to read through an old tome for some answer to what might be happening, but with all the noise it was just too much. She couldn't ignore Luna and read with the young witch writhing in pain helplessly in front of her.

"She's still like this?" Harry asked from the doorway. He was up early, Ron had taken it upon himself to sleep on the floor next to Hermione's chair, though she wasn't sure if it was intentional or not.

"Yes. It's worse."

Harry pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. "I can't stand to see Luna like this, I just wish I knew what we could do. I mean, what kind of creature latches onto someone else and takes control? Isn't that what Daunte said he was told?" asked Harry.

Hermione nodded. "Something to that affect…"

She was cut off by a tremendous rumble that shook the whole house and a moment later Luna's mouth fell open. The sound that escaped her throat wasn't her voice…it wasn't even a sound that Hermione had ever heard a human make. It was low and somber, like a long, loud howl that seemed to cut through the very fiber of her being. Instinctively her hands went to cover her ears and she saw Harry do the same.

Milky blackness engulfed her and she was whirling down through an abyss filled with only the dark and that sound. _That horrible sound…make it stop…_

Her blood vibrated and her eyes felt like they could burst. Hermione shut them hard and she could feel something warm sloushing past her and soaking into her clothes. Thicker than water, a metallic aroma flooded her nostrils and mouth and she recognized the taste. _Blood._

Hermione's lips parted and she wanted to call out for Ron or Harry or her parents…anyone. She was tussled and tossed violently and she could feel something solid below her, hard and cold and moments later she could feel the cool air on her skin. "Hermione!" Harry's voice was nearby and his feet pounded at the wet Earth. He grabbed her around the shoulders to help her up. "Are you okay?"

A flood of the metallic liquid worked its way up from her throat and Hermione vomited the blood onto the rocky shore. She opened her eyes and looked around, everything was craggy and violently sharp. The sky was overcast and a blazing red and everything smelt of blood and rot. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "That sound…did you hear it?" Harry asked. "I mean…we didn't imagine it. Did we?"

Hermione shook her head. "It was real."

"This doesn't seem to be," Harry pointed out to the sea, or what would have been the sea. It was nothing more than a boiling ocean of blood that foamed at the rocks of the shore. Suddenly Hermione thought she was going to be sick.

"Harry! Hermione!" They turned back to see Ginny and Ron charging toward them over the rocks. "You're here too?" Ron said.

Ginny jumped against Harry, wrapping her arms around him nestling her face into the side of his neck. "What happened? That sound…"

"It was Luna," Harry said solemnly.

"This could be…yes, there are Eastern cultures that have a strong belief in a shared dream state where the participants experience the same set of events and even wake to remember them. This could be something of that type," Hermione said, "Though it's just a theory."

Ron rubbed her back. "It's all we've got now."

"Got!" Ginny shouted. "What have we got on us still?" she began to rifle through her pockets in search of anything.

Harry glanced down. "This isn't the shirt I had on…"

"Me either, I was dressed for sleep," Ron said.

"All our clothes are different, I've got my wand," Hermione said. She continued to dig as if there was something else. "The Hallow is missing."

"Mine too," Harry said. "But I've also got my wand…and some food I nicked from the kitchen this morning…it's no good now, with blood all soaked into it," he tossed the food down on the ground.

Ginny sniffled, running her hand back through her red hair. "I have my wand and that's it."

"Blimey, Elder Wand's gone, but I've got me other one. What do we do now though? Just walk until we find something?"

Ginny shrugged, her shirt was stretched at the neck and pulled down over her shoulder. In the red light her freckles showed against the pale backdrop of her skin. "Ron and I came from a little down that way and it seems to stretch on as far as the eye can see," she said.

"None of this makes any sense, one moment I'm sitting at Luna's bedside and the next I'm here," Hermione said. "What kind of power…"

"Didn't you notice, it was me, silly girl," it was Luna's voice but not her words and a moment later Hermione caught the faint hint of fragrant perfume mixed with something putrid. As if on cue the four of them turned to see something stepping forth from a mist that seemed to have formed out of nowhere.

The creature was something Hermione couldn't describe. A reptilian head with teeth jutting out of the mouth and large red cat eyes, it had scraggly hair flanking it and its breasts dangled beneath it as it walked. They were perhaps the most disturbing thing, they were all too human. It padded forward and spoke again, with Luna's voice. "You'll have to excuse me, I've found a need to take a voice," it said.

"What...what the fuck is that thing?" Ron shouted.

The creature sneered and suddenly its voice was different, it wasn't a sound like Luna would make. And then it was again. "Why don't you ask Potter?" the creature said with Luna's voice.

"Harry?" Hermione said. "Do you know this thing?"

"Wrong one," a girlish giggle escaped the monstrosity and there was an underlying second laugh…one that didn't belong to anything human.

"What have you done to Luna?" Harry leveled his wand at the thing and stepped out in front of the others.

"I've used her, rode her here like transportation and hollowed a little bit of the inside out for my own enjoyment. Have you any idea the raw emotional turmoil boiling below the surface of this girl? If there was ever anyone easier to take control of…it's the one who holds back, who never lets their true self be shown for the fear that when the mask comes off…they'll never get it back on," a creepy horrible voice intertwined with Luna's now and had them all rooted in place, except Harry.

"You'd be bloody smart to remember who it is you're dealing with, bloody smart," Harry mused.

The thing sneered. "You are truly your Father's son, defiant till the end, but like he will someday, you _will _bend to my desires Harry Potter…here and now," the creature turned to the side, padding along so the full length of its body could be judged. "For when you attack the heart of a person like you they can't help but give in…"

A wave of fire rushed out from where the creature stood, but Harry was quick. He threw up a protection shield wordlessly to block all of the oncoming attack by splitting the wave around them. The wave passed and scorched as path through the air down the beach until it was out of sight.

"Are you planning to do battle with me right here?" asked the creature with Luna's voice again.

"My friends and I have always done what we had to protect ourselves and others," said Harry. "If that means ending you to save Luna, then so be it." Harry uttered the words and his wand became a sword once more.

Hermione had fought just a night before but she honestly wasn't one for it. There wasn't much research to be done on a fight and she hardly had time to think deeply about what she was doing, it was all over so fast and things happened. People died and sometimes, one time, she killed them. But before Harry spoke again she knew they would be standing by him. The creature that laughed manically before them wouldn't have had this any other way. She glanced to Ginny who had a tear in her eyes, not that she looked sad. Just the opposite, she looked _proud_. In fact she seemed to be welling with pride, like her chest might burst…_or like she might jump Harry right here. _

"Ron, you and I take front of this; there's one of him and four of us. If Hermione and Ginny keep to the outside and lace attacks between ours with a little mix of defense in there, should be no way he can keep up…"

Ron sounded seventeen again; there was a smirk in his voice. "Harry…you seem—confident," he said.

"And you finally seem to be having fun, now let's save Luna," Harry said.

**Author's Note: **_To anyone still following this and looking at this, thank you. I think that there's not much else I can say to you other than that. At this point in time I will have to go back and read over what I did more thoroughly. I've been out of the loop so long and my life's taken…a turn for the worst let's say. Writing is basically all I have left at this point and I've been not writing for too long. _


End file.
